|
The Indian City of Delhi is part of the national capital region (NCR) with about 14.3 million inhabitants. Due to the rapid increase in vehicle kilometers driven and the poor technical conditions of the vehicles, the load of ambient air with automobile pollutants is extremely high. The Central Pollution Control Board estimates that city traffic added as much as 2,000 tons of pollutants a day in 2000. The permissible standard of 240 micrograms for suspended particulates (annual average) and 240 micrograms per cubic meter (24 hour standard) are exceeded, but no exact analysis based on monitoring station readings are available.
Diesel buses were only allowed to operate until that date if their owners could prove that they had placed orders either for the same number of new CNG buses or for conversion to CNG ( 1 ). According to a study issued by the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, which was carried out by an international consultant team, until March 2001 about 275 CNG buses, 12,000 CNG taxis and cars and 13,500 CNG three-wheelers were on the road ( 1 ) by that time. As 2002 came to a close, however, all diesel buses in Delhi have been converted to CNG and air pollution levels are noticeably down.
Because the responsible government had taken no appropriate action to combat air pollution, the Supreme Court of India took over the responsibility and issued on July 28, 1998 a time frame for measures to be taken. The order was directed towards the government of the national capital region (NCR), which includes Delhi. With respect to the scope of the Info Pool the following orders are of interest:
- Replacement of all pre-1990 autos and taxis with new vehicles using clean fuels by March 31, 2000
- Financial incentives for replacement of all post-1990 autos and taxis with new vehicles on clean fuels by March 31, 2001
- No buses more than eight years old to ply except on CNG or other clean fuels, by March 31, 2000
- Entire city bus fleet (DTC and private) to be steadily converted to single fuel mode on CNG by March 31, 2001
- New interstate bus terminals (ISBT) to be built at entry points in the north and southwest to avoid pollution due to entry of inter-state buses by March 31, 2000
- Gas Authority of India Ltd. to expand its CNG dispensing capacity from nine stations to 80 by March 31, 2001
- Two independent fuel testing labs to be established by June 1, 1999
- Automatic inspection and maintenance (I&M) facilities to be set up for commercial vehicles in the first phase, immediately.
- Comprehensive I&M programs to be started by transport department and private sector by March 31, 2001.
The order to move the entire bus fleet to CNG bus by March 31, 2001, was not achieved, because government authorities gave insufficient attention to infrastructure and vehicle repowering. Therefore, the Supreme Court gave a conditional extension until September 30, 2001 (
It is very unusual in most countries that a Supreme Court enters the area of direct policy measures. Obviously, the Indian government and administration do not have the capacity and the political will to take sufficiently strong actions leaving a vacuum that the Supreme Court attempted to fill. According to the study of the international consultants, the state of the legislative and regulatory framework has not yet been set up in an optimal way ( 1 ).
There are a lot of possibilities for different interpretations, and the ministry of road transport and highways (MRTH) had established unclear emission regulations for new vehicles using CNG, as well as for in-use vehicles converted to CNG. These emission regulations are necessary for manufacturers and fleet operators to refer to. One of the loopholes identified is that the MRTH notification allows the extension of type approval certificates to other engine/CNG kit combinations. No provisions have been defined in the existing regulations for the inspection of in-use buses after conversion to CNG.
Although the ministry's regulation demands that CNG-kit installation is only allowed to be carried out by authorized workshops, no requirements for these workshop have been defined, neither legal nor technical. The example shows that the initiative taken by the Supreme Court is not supported appropriately by the responsible administration. But there does not only exist a lack of active support, but also massive counter-activities.
According to the Centre for Science and Environment ( w1 ), the ministry of petroleum and natural gas (MPNG) did not organize an appropriate supply of CNG to the Delhi area, because they did not believe that the Supreme Courts order would be implemented. Consequently, in the late spring and in the summer 2001 there was a shortage of CNG forcing many of the taxis and three-wheelers to stop circulating. This influenced public opinion negatively against CNG ( w1 ).
While it was recognized that the introduction of ultra low sulfur diesel (<50 PPM) and diesel particulate filters could make it possible for conventional diesels to achieve very low PM levels, such fuels are not scheduled to be introduced in Delhi until 2010. Another problem arose by a whisper campaign of unidentified sources that CNG would cause cancer. According to a survey carried out by CSE, more than half of the people asked in several parts of Delhi had heard that CNG caused cancer although the majority of the whole participants preferred CNG and did not believe the alleged negative environmental aspect of CNG ( w2 ).
The orders released by the Supreme Court mainly aimed at replacement of autos and taxis with new vehicles using clean fuels, converting the entire bus fleet to CNG buses and installing a comprehensive I&M program (see Chapter 2 Program Description). Financial incentives are also used to support the replacement of post-1990 autos and taxis. All of the approaches go back to the Supreme Court ruling, which is quite unusual.
The Supreme Court ruling initiated a strong shift to CNG, but because of lack of supporting regulations the emission level is unclear. The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) owned by the Delhi government owns a total fleet of 2,990 buses ( 1 ). Of these, nearly 1,700 buses are actually not in operation due to the age restrictions given by the Supreme Court. So, DTC today is operating only about 1,200 buses in Delhi ( 1 ). Half of these are manufactured between 1992 and 1994 ( 1 ). It is open to what level of emissions the buses can be improved. Because there is no certification procedure defined with standards to be met, various engine technologies can result from the program - especially it is not clear, if three-way catalysts were to be applied. It seems that the Indian manufacturers TELCO and Ashok-Leyland produce CNG engines based on stoichiometric air-fuel mixture and are using three-way catalytic converters. This would allow for rather low emissions comparable to the EU definition of EEV (Environmental Enhanced Vehicle) ( 1 ).
For a technological description of CNG and CNG buses, please visit the relevant sites.
The above report shows very clearly that the shift to CNG initiated by the Indian Supreme Court was very difficult and took much longer to implement than it should have due to very limited support by other government authorities in Delhi. But at the end of the day, all diesel buses were eliminated and air quality has improved. Therefore, the case is of interest for observers also in Latin American countries.
|
