Indian cities and Jakarta top Asia's air pollution charts

Indian cities and Jakarta top Asia's air pollution charts

Uttara Choudhury, Agence France-Presse/Agra, India

People living in Indian cities New Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and
Pune have been breathing some of the most polluted air in Asia,
but Jakarta and China's Chongqing are also bad, a conference
heard on Monday.

Rapid industrial growth and streets choked with cars put Asian
cities among the worst in the world, said Michael Carter, World
Bank country director in India, on the opening day of a global
environment meeting.

"There has been dramatic progress in New Delhi and Bombay in
the past year to have better air quality but unfortunately the
story remains that both these Indian cities have dangerously high
levels of suspended particles in the air," Carter told the annual
"Better Air Quality" conference.

"Several Asian cities have to use cleaner fuels and enforce
stringent emission norms for cars.

"We tend to ignore the fact that air pollution is the second
biggest cause of maternal and child mortality," he warned.

"India has a particularly serious problem in terms of indoor
air pollution from smoke rising from stoves and fires inside
homes," Carter said.

According to a joint World Bank and Asian Development Bank
study of air pollution for 20 major Asian cities between 2000 and
2003, the level of suspended particulate matter considered the
most dangerous pollutant was above World Health Organization
(WHO) mandated safety limits in at least 10.

For the most hazardous of these particles -- those under 10
microns in diameter which can penetrate a face mask -- New Delhi
has three times Hong Kong's level, the study shows.

New Delhi topped the list with spikes of between 350 and 800
micrograms of suspended particulates per cubic metre.

The WHO recommends less than 50 micrograms.

Officials at the conference said it was difficult to say if
Mexico City or New Delhi should be classed the most polluted in
the world because of monthly variations.

Jakarta reported figures just above 250 while Bombay was just
below 250 as was Chongqing in southwest China.

Next came Calcutta, followed by the Western Indian city of
Pune.

Shanghai came seventh, trailed by Manila, Osaka, Tokyo and
Seoul.

Hong Kong was just above 50, with Busan, Bangkok and Colombo
while Singapore was below 50.

Hanoi, Beijing, Indonesia's Surabaya and Taipei won a clean
bill of health for suspended particulates.

Dhaka, Kathmandu and Ho Chi Minh City are being added to the
ongoing monitoring scheme.

Officials also said other several Chinese and Indian cities
would probably merit a place on the list which was based on
information collected by local and national government agencies.

Of the 20 cities surveyed, only Singapore fell within safety
limits for all key pollutants -- carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide,
nitrogen dioxide as well as suspended particulates.

"Singapore has very clean air which has a lot to do with its
strict pollution controls," said Robert M. O'Keefe from the New
York-based Health Effects Institute.

Singapore is the only country in Asia which restricts the
number of cars on the road by auctioning the rights to own a
vehicle.

"It would turn into a political hot potato if the Indian
government tried to auction the rights to own a car," said Meena
Malhotra of the Indian Metropolitan Transport Corporation.

"There would be blood on the streets... and huge opposition to
such a bold idea," she added.

India boasts 66 million vehicles on the roads, with seven
million added just last year, according to the Society of Indian
Automobile Manufacturers. Nearly 10,000 new cars jostle for space
in New Delhi every month.

Similarly, car sales in China last year more than doubled to
two million from the year before.

"Air pollution is an area of deep concern for Asia, more so as
the economy grows and industrialization continues," said P.M Van
Heeswijk, chief of the sustainable development department of the
Asian Development Bank.

"Rapid economic growth of the region has been good for Asia
and good for the world. But it has not come without a heavy
price," he added.