Summary:

In South Asian cities, air quality is bad

• Smoky particles and dust level in ambient air generally
  • twice the world average
  • more than 5 times as high as industrialized countries and Latin America
• Nearly 100,000 premature deaths/year and over 1 billion work days are lost or reduced productivity due to air pollution
• Most damaging health impacts are due to airborne lead (phased out in most countries) and fine particulate matter
• Two major sources of particles from motor vehicles are
  • uncontrolled diesel vehicles with poor fuel quality
  • two-stroke two-and three-wheelers

Issues and concerns

• Rapid urbanization and growth in transport demand
• Inadequate public transport and rapid motorization
• Mix of slow and fast vehicles without segregation
• Poor fuel quality and vehicle maintenance
• A sizeable share of two-stroke engine technologies
• Poorly developed non-motorized transport systems
• Increasing level of congestion and pollution
• Transport energy demand and carbon emissions rising
• A large % of the popn. is exposed to automotive pollution
• Uncoordinated management of urban land use / transport
• Too many organizations making disjointed decisions