Mandatory vehicle emission tests step in right direction

Towards a pollution-free environment:

Ravi LADDUWAHETTY

Belching vehicles on Sri Lankan roads may be well a thing of the past with the Registrar of Motor Traffic and two private companies - CleanCo and Laugfs implementing a mandatory vehicle emission test on a Public- Private sector partnership.

This will also mean that all registered vehicles in Sri Lanka will have to pass this test mandatorily for them to be eligible for the revenue license for the ensuing year. This test has also made Sri Lanka the first South Asian nation to implement such a centralized program.

The process is expected to be a role model for Asia with the Regional Head of the Manila based Division Head of Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities Glynda Bathan also visiting Sri Lanka to see the logistics and the scope of this project.

Sri Lanka has a vehicle population of 2.4 million of which 50 per cent of it is in the Western Province but 10% of that also might be non operational which means that around 1 million vehicles in the Western Province will have to go through this mandatory test, CleanCo General Manager Joel Peter told the Daily News.

The project has kicked off full time from Monday November 17 and any vehicle- be it car, trishaw, motorcycle , lorry, bus or heavy duty vehicles such as earth moving trucks or container trucks and whatever vehicle registered with the Registrar of Motor vehicles will have to go through this mandatory test if the revenue license is to be obtained.

However, the CleanCo/Laufgs infrastructure was ready from July 15 and has hitherto completed over 3000 tests for vehicle owners who presented their vehicles, mostly motor cars, on a voluntary basis. This will mean that the company's fixed stations in the Western Province would be geared for providing the service.

Peter explained that the most tangible feature of the emission inspection certificate was that it was tamper proof and has six security features revolving round the paper and a water mark with serial numbers, a hologram sticker which means that even if one attempts to duplicate the paper, it cannot be done due to the hologram sticker.

There is also a bar code and a picture of the vehicle to fortify the authenticity of the certificate. He said that the vehicles which fail the initial test also have the option of getting the mistakes corrected and returning for a new test which is free but the free option will be limited for the first sixty days.

Mostly the reasons attributable for the failing vehicles is a bad air filter and spark plugs where all the owner has to do is to maintain the spark plugs and air filters. However, there may be extreme cases where the engines will also have to be properly tuned and corrected, he said.

Explaining the operational logistics Operations Manager Surendra Perera said that there were similarities and differences between the emission tests for the petrol and the diesel vehicles.

The tests for the diesel vehicles commences with the vehicle being tested for durability and whether it can stand up to the test. Then, the second event is the checking of oil temperature by inserting a dip stick and the oil has to have a minimum of 70 degrees Celsius.

The vehicle should complete a minimum of 15 minutes of warm up for the combustion to work effectively.

Then the samples of the emission are collected for testing with the engine running at the Maximum Revolutions Per Minute (RPM). The reports will show the colour/ opacity and the smoke density which is valued in K Units and is expected to be a maximum of 8 units. That is the standard and that level and beyond is a Gross Polluter.

In the case of petrol vehicles, they are tested in two forms. The first is testing the emissions at a low idle position (with the gear at neutral which is usually at 800- 1200 RPM) and then at High Idle Position of 2200-2800 RPM. The testing of the petrol vehicles takes a maximum of five minutes.

Petrol vehicles have two tests. The first is the Hydro Carbon test and the other is the Carbon Monoxide (CO). Petrol vehicles (other than motor cycles and trishaws) are expected to have less than 1200 Hydro Carbon Parts Per Million (PPM) by volume while for trishaws and motor cycles are expected to be less than 9000 PPM.

The Carbon Monoxide content is expected to be less than 4.5 per cent by volume for petrol vehicles other than motor cycles and trishaws while for motor cycles and trishaws, the limit is 6 per cent by volume.