The tale of the two cities of Beijing and Mumbai
Beijing
China and India have been the two fastest developing nations in Asia for decade now. China industries ranging from light to medium and heavy are all growing by leaps and bounds. India economic is also booming too from industry, IT to Bollywood. Yet, the economic success of both countries has achieved not without a price. The capital cities of the two countries are now facing the same problem of air pollution.
Beijing warned its’ inhabitants to stay indoor on Thursday yesterday of January17, 2008. The pollution level across the capital shot through the roof to the worst possible level it can be. The Beijing Evening News warned residents not to do their morning exercises on Friday today as pollution levels were likely to linger over the capital until a cold front moved in and blow some of the bad air away later in the day.
Beijing is at level five of the pollution scale. This is the worst of it all. Environmental Protection Bureau registered 15 out of the 16 pollution monitoring stations in urban Beijing a "five" for air quality rating. This happens
despite the repeated assurances by the government that air quality is improving.
Beijing vowed to clean up its air and launched the "Defending Blue Sky day", or a day when the layer of grayish hue smog or brownish-yellow haze pollution is light and the blue sky can be seen, program in 1998. The city had only about 100 ‘blue sky’ days then. Air quality has improved for eight straight years since.
The municipality had 241 ‘blue sky days’ in 2006, exceeding the government’s target by three days. This year the target is 245 blue sky days. As of Friday today, the city needs one more day to reach the annual target. But, again, this official "blue sky days" report could be as hazy as the pollution itself. Many Beijing residents would just chuckle asthmatically when hearing with the figure.
Beijing plans to issue pollution alerts that will warn residents to avoid certain areas of the city on days when the air is heavily polluted, said the environment protection bureau. The city also intends to close factories and construction sites when the air becomes heavily polluted, added the officer on last Wednesday.
Beijing’s air quality is routinely rated among the worst in the world by international agencies such as the United Nations and the World Bank. The main pollutant is usually attributed to sulfur dioxide emissions caused by the rampant coal burning, regular dust storms and a growing number of street cars.
Beijing has taken the lead in China and imposed Euro-III car emission standards, but exhaust fumes emitted by its 2.8 million motor vehicles, including two million private cars, remains one of the primary sources of pollution in the capital.
In light of the up coming 2008 World Olympic Games, Beijing has reason for concern to this issue. Beijing could be dangerous to athletes’ health. Smog and pollution-laden air will certainly impose a risk and health hazard to the 10,000 competing athletes especially the marathon runner and cyclists in Beijing. A loser may conveniently blame on the air.
Beijing’s city government, nevertheless, has vowed for a ‘Green Games’. It plans to invest 25.8 billion RMB to improve the city’s air by the time the Olympic game begins. Heating in many households has already been converted from coal to natural gas, and a Beijing steel mill is currently being relocated to an outlying area.
Still, experts remain skeptical. They believe that even if Beijing were able to take all cars off the road and shut down its factories and air-conditioners for the duration of the Olympics, it wouldn’t be enough. Depending on the wind direction, between 50 and 70 percent of the city’s dangerous fine dust isn’t generated in Beijing itself but in neighboring provinces, especially Hebei.
Will the situation be as bad as fear? It is still yet to be seen. Meantime, just keep our fingers crossed.
Mumbai
Mumbai is tailing not too distance away from Beijing in term of pollution. And if precaution is not taken, Mumbai may still be able to over take Beijing at round the corner.
The city has actually breathed a lot easier since the change over to a greener fuel for a portion of street vehicles. Around 55,000 of Mumbai’s taxis have switched over to CNG since 2000 and emitted 55 tones less carbon monoxide yearly. There is also a dramatic drop of particulate matter in taxi emissions from pre-CNG level.
However, buses have been comparatively slower in the switch-over with less than 20 per cent of the fleet runs on CNG. And with the $2,500, Tata Motors’ Nano that will open the road to millions of drivers, it also raises environmental worries. The improvement in air quality could be short-term. An uncontrolled growth of vehicular population could deteriorate air quality again. Average speeds may come down to 8 kph from the present 20 kmph-25 kmph in the city, meaning more burning of fuel and more emissions.
Mumbai still has a very high incidence of chronic respiratory problems, arising from extreme air pollution. The causes of pollution are mainly industries in the eastern suburbs and New Bombay, garbage burning by the BMC, and insufficient control over emission levels from vehicles.
Mumbai installed 22 air monitoring stations in the worst polluted south to carry out routine checks of nitrogen dioxide, sulfur- dioxide and suspended particulate matter. The study finds very high level of the hazardous gas from traffic exhausts. The high-risk areas were found to be VI, Bhendi Bazar, and Parel.
The new Mumbai, located close to the largest chemical industry zone in Asia, is exposed to high levels of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals released by these industries. In a presentation to the National Human Rights Commission, it pointed out that several chemical factories flout regulations by releasing noxious gases clandestinely at night. The memorandum alleges that chemical industries in the area equipped no safe air effluent process.
Mumbai still ride on grave risk in terms of air pollution and it must learn from the failure of Beijing so as not to fall into the same trap. Beijing should also learn from the success of Mumbai in changing vehicles to cleaner gas to reduce toxic emission.
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