Air quality monitoring stations donated by JICA  non-functional

LAHORE: All the three “Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations,” donated by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to the Punjab Environment Protection Department (EPD)  in 2007,  have been non-functional since 2011. Due to it, it is not possible for the department to measure the quality of the air and the ratio of particulate matter including pollutants in it. The department believes it is not viable to get the stations repaired as it would cost too much and also for the reason that these can be repaired only in Japan. Furthermore, department sources say it would take six months or more to repair the stations.

Ali Abbas, Deputy Director Labs and EPD Project In-charge told The News that the repair cost of one station is whopping Rs 30 million which the department could not afford. Besides, the Japan-made gadgets used in the stations are too expensive and the running cost of the equipment is also phenomenal, he added. Ali says that in order to overcome the shortcoming, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has decided to purchase five Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations from Austria for installation in four cities of Punjab, Lahore, Chakwal, Sahiwal and Faisalabad.

He adds the purchase order for the five stations and one calibrator had been made on March, 2017 and the delivery date was  June 5, 2017, or before. However, he says, parts of the abandoned stations will be used in other vehicles of EPD.  The cost of the five stations being purchased from Austria will be Rs 84.53 million as per the departmental letter AD(MP)/13/16.  It is worth mentioning that data of air pollution at various locations and during different times of the day has not been shared since 2015.