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The need to implement a 'road user charging study' to assess the charge which can be justified for diesel fuel in order to charge appropriately for road use costs was highlighted by a study on 'Fiscal Policies on Fuels and Vehicles in Sri Lanka'.

The study which was conducted by the Urban Air Quality Management Project funded by the World Bank said that when determining the appropriate level of duty to levy diesel, road use costs needs to be more accurately measured than providing rough estimates.

"We have also had to make rather rough estimates of pollution costs and recommended that these estimates be refined in the light of better air pollution and emissions date that should become available as the quality of monitoring improves," the report of the study said.

Banning the import of certain vehicles may seem an appealing policy to address particular environmental problems, such as pollution caused by diesel-powered vehicles. However, these policies should also be applied with caution and on the basis of a clear understanding of environmental gains and economic costs, the report said.

The project was carried out to strengthen the institutional and policy framework for urban air quality management in Sri Lanka. The overall objective of the project was to develop the institutions and policies needed to reverse the deterioration in Colombo's air quality and its accompanying adverse health effects.

The purpose of the fiscal policies assignment is to examine the effects of alternative options for pricing diesel, petrol and kerosene and for levying duties on different fuels and vehicles. The effects of the alternative policies on long-term fiscal sustainability, households' expenditure and welfare, vehicle emissions and the environment were assessed by the study.

The report said that over time, policies to transfer demand for diesel dual-purpose vehicles and cars to petrol vehicles would result in a significant reduction in pollution. The analysis showed that the current fuel/tax price policies do not have a significant effect on the choice between diesel and petrol cars, but they do encourage the inefficient choice of diesel for dual-purpose vehicles.

Vehicle import policies such as age limits for different types of vehicles and high ad valorem taxes duties play by far a larger role and need examination to see whether they need reform to improve consumer choice and environmental impact.

"We have considered the effect of banning all two-stroke motor-cycles. Although a ban would reduce the PM emissions from petrol vehicles and these possibly account for as much as 20% of the total PM emissions, we consider that such a ban is not warranted given our best estimates of the emissions of two-stroke cycles and the health damage costs," the report said.

Minister Rukman Senanayake told a seminar organised by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and Air Resource Management Centre, that air quality management is a difficult task that has to be achieved by less developed countries while focussing on development strategies.

Air pollution is mainly caused by the transport sector, green house gases and CFC which is a man-made gas. Though measures could be taken to overcome the latter it is difficult to do away with air pollution caused by the transport sector, Senanayake said.

"Unless we minimise the problem we cannot completely stop air pollution caused by transportation." According to the Minister 800,000 deaths occur annually due to air pollution around the world. Statistics prove that 40% of the buses and 70% of the dual purpose in Sri Lanka are causing air pollution. " What will happen if we try to do away with all these vehicles, the country will run into chaos and the entire economy will go down," he said.

Senanayake said that measures will be taken to minimise 20% of the unroadworthy vehicles which is causing 50% of air pollution.

Minister of Transport, Highways and Civil Aviation Tilak Marapana said that a major proportion of vehicles in Sri Lanka are old and not up to required standards and stressed that these unroadworthy vehicles are a major contributor towards air pollution. Emphasising that the Ministry of Transport is well aware of its responsibilities Marapana said that they have already taken measures to minimise air pollution.

The important measures taken by the government to minimise air pollution caused by transportation are: implementation of vehicle emission standards, reducing led content of fuel manufactured by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), measures by the police to be more efficient in traffic management in order to minimise traffic congestion and setting up equipment for vehicle emission.

While thanking the World Bank for the enormous assistance granted to implement the 'Air Quality Management Project' Marapana called upon the Bank to continue its support in future as well. " Since Sri Lanka is a poor country we expect the help and support of the World Bank to address these issues," he said.

It is a known fact that industrialised countries cause most of the air pollution. Therefore Sri Lanka being a less developed country which causes less impact to air pollution it is not unfair to request help to solve environmental problems, Marapana said.

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