Environmentally- friendly motoring promotion in 2014
Sri Lanka will promote environmentally-friendly motoring this year further streamlining vehicle emission testing to keep the air that people breathe clean and fresh, Commissioner General of Motor Traffic S.H. Harischandra told the Business Times.
Stringent regulations will be introduced to take action against owners of obsolete vehicles which cause air pollution as vehicle emission testing has been made mandatory for all vehicles, except agricultural land vehicles such as tractors and armed force vehicles, he said.
Sri Lanka’s vehicle emission testing (VET) programme has been strengthened with the setting up of a 30 million-rupee mobile ambient air quality monitoring unit, Mr. Harischandra revealed.
The unit has the capability of monitoring air pollutant gases including Carbon Monoxide (CO), Carbon Dioxide (CO), and other Hydrocarbons (HC).
The unit takes regular readings of changes of air quality and it can measure and compare quality of ambient air.
However the monitoring unit cannot solve the entire problem of air pollution caused by un-road worthy vehicles, he said adding that they have decided to revitalise awareness programmes this year to minimise air pollution.
The Motor Traffic Department, Ministry of Environment, Central Environment Authority, Department of Measurements, Units, Standards & Services and the VET Programme will continue ongoing education and awareness programmes countrywide regularly
A fully networked control centre in Colombo is equipped with facilities to monitor every test carried out at any VET centre in the island. The central database has photographs of emission tested vehicles.
Motorists have been advised to carry VET test certificates in their vehicles as the police have been empowered to check these certificates. Vehicle emission testing centres are being inspected by the authorities regularly to prevent malpractices and the issuing of false certificates. There are 340 VET centres operating in the island at present. Carrying a false test report is a big risk as it is an offence that could lead to the suspension of a driving licence and vehicle licence of motorists, city traffic police sources said.