Air pollution a silent killer

Team Name: Team Eco-Lution

Team Members:
1. Aakriti Giri
2. Arjun Timsina(Team captain)
3. Nabin shrestha

Project’s Name: Say no to vehicular emissions

Problem Statement:

While essential, the air turns out to be the simplest way for us to poison ourselves. The main factors
contributing to the deterioration of air quality in so-called industrialized regions of the world are poorly
managed and unsustainable development projects, excessive reliance on fossil fuels, burning of plastic,
and crop wastes. The majority of each country's capital cities are at the top of the Air Quality Index
chart (AQI). Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, is one of them and is continuously competing for the top
rank in AQI. Kathmandu often has an AQI of 150, which is significantly higher than the WHO's
guidelines. This amount of air intake per day is similar to 6.8 cigarettes smoked per day.

According to WHO: definition of Air pollution is, “Air pollution is the contamination of the indoor
or outdoor environment by any chemical, physical or biological agent that modifies the natural
characteristics of the atmosphere.”

Vehicular emissions, industrial facilities, and household combustion devices are the main culprits of air
pollution in kathmandu valley.

Particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide are among the
pollutants that pose the greatest threat to human health. All gaseous pollutants are significant
contributors to climate change, which is a far bigger issue overall. However, because particulate matter
is the primary contributor to ambient air pollution, which has immediate harmful impacts on health, we
will focus on it.

PM10 (particles with a diameter of 10 micrometers or less): These specks are tiny enough to squeeze
through the nose and throat and into the lungs. Once inhaled, these particles can have adverse effects
on the heart and lungs as well as other vital organs. 95% of the average PM10 concentration in the
Kathmandu valley is ascribed to regional primary sources, including brick kilns (15%),
biomass/garbage burning (23%), soil dust (26%), and motor vehicles (31%).

PM2.5 (particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less): Due to their small size, these particles
can enter the circulation and the deepest parts of the lungs. There is enough proof to conclude that
prolonged (year-long) exposure to PM2.5 can have harmful consequences on one's health. Note that
PM2.5 is included in PM10. In the Kathmandu Valley, both diesel and gasoline cars are major emitters
of PM2.5, but diesel engines contribute far more than gasoline engines do.
 Previous studies on the air quality in the Kathmandu Valley show that diesel cars significantly increase
ambient pollution. Between February and April 2017, roadside observations of diesel cars were made at
six different locations: two on the ring road (RR), two inside the RR, and two on key arterial routes
outside the RR. 35% of all diesel vehicles observed (n = 12,039) were visible black smoke emitters and
are referred to as "super-emitters".

Traffic Congestion
Up until this point, we have discussed how vehicle emissions affect the quality of the air around us.
Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times,
and increased vehicular queueing. There is a major problem with traffic congestion, which will make
the already bad condition even worse. It leads to the longer trip times, which leads to the excessive
release of particulate matter.
The main problems of traffic congestion in Kathmandu are listed below:-
• Congestion in the Kathmandu Valley is primarily caused by a poor traffic management system.
Few traffic lights exist, and even fewer are in use. And the situation with CCTV surveillance is
far worse. There are 1,400 traffic officers working for the division. The Valley's traffic lights
would all need to function for half the staff to be deployed. According to officials, traffic
congestion in the Valley might be reduced by more than 40% If all traffic lights are in good
working order.
• Motorcycles, which make up around 78% of all vehicle types registered in the Bagmati Zone, are
primarily observed on highways when traffic is heavy and cars are accelerating or decelerating to
change lanes.
• The general public is not well aware of the consequences of breaking traffic laws. People
frequently cross the street wherever they like in a rather haphazard manner.

A UN report stated that: pollution causes 9 million premature death annually, much more than the
Covid-19 pandemic's 5.8 million last 2 years. Though millions of people have died as a result of
pollution, we still fear pandemics much more. Don't we also have to think of pollution as a pandemic?
In Nepal, Annually 42,100 deaths were caused due to air pollution only. In addition, it has reduced the
average life span of Nepalese by at least 4 years. Almost half of the figures died due to breathing
particles smaller than 2.5 in diameter [P.M 2.5] which can cross the air blood barrier in the lung
capillaries. Most of those particles come from vehicle emissions.
Conclusion: According to our research, particulate matter is currently the most harmful air pollutant,
and the main source of it is automotive emissions. It gets worse because of the traffic congestion.

Proposed solution:
Our solution to improve the air quality and reduce the PM concentration in the atmosphere is through
vehicular emission and traffic management. Our project is divided into two layers.
• Reduction of super-emitters with the removal of old vehicles and promotion of electric vehicles.
• Reducing traffic congestion.
 1. Reduction of super-emitters with the removal of old vehicles and promotion of electric vehicles:
More than 12,000 diesel vehicles were tested, and 35% of them were super-emitters, demonstrating the
appalling condition of Nepal's system for monitoring vehicle emissions. The inspection and repair
program in Kathmandu is dysfunctional, as recently said publicly by the director of the Department of
Transport Management (DoTM) (Gurung, 2016). In our nation, the time requirement for operating
vehicles that qualify as certified super-emitters is 20 years.

To solve both problems first we need to improve the vehicular emission testing (VET) system of Nepal.
The VET system, which solely tests four-wheelers, is intended to manage and minimize vehicular
exhaust emission, particularly from Internal Combustion Engines (ICE). A car that passes the test
receives a green sticker. In Nepal, there are just four VET centres (Ekantakuna, Sano Bharyang, Teku
and Bhaktapur). Numerous buses and trucks, as well as heavy-duty vehicles, travel the highways
without being inspected, and many of them are out-of-date. The test criteria do not apply to
motorcycles, which make up around 78% of all vehicle types registered in the Bagmati Zone (DoTM,
2021)In the Kathmandu Valley, there are already more than 400,000 four-wheelers on the road. Even
though it is intended to assess the four-wheelers' emission quality, it rarely matches the need for the
number of vehicles to be tested each day. 1000 automobiles can be tested every day with our present
method, which is just 1/3 of the demand. We can now address the issue since we know why there are so
many super emitters in the valley. So, we should do something to increase the number of VET centers.
Either government should invest to open new VET centers or give private parties authority to operate it
and a policy should be introduced to test two wheelers.
The procedures mentioned above will aid in removing the super emitters from the Kathmandu Valley.
People will begin to frequently service their vehicles once strict policies are put in place. Since, 50% of
emissions is contributed by 20% percent of vehicles, this will help filter the super-emitters, which will
directly reduce air pollution.
Let's now concentrate on certified super-emitters that are more than 15 years old. An initiative to
replace public transportation in Nepal that was more than 20 years old. Other nations, like China, have
a 10-year age restriction that applies to both private cars and public transportation. Since Nepal's
economy does not fare well with 10 years, the barrier should be lowered to 15 years.
Now, the aforementioned act shouldn't be put into effect right away because it will lead to an
imbalance between the demand and supply of public transportation. Therefore, local and state
governments should encourage the usage of electric cars by building charging stations around the
valley and encouraging businesses like Sajha Yatayat to purchase electric buses. Currently Sajha
Yatayat are in the process of purchasing 40 electric buses. Acts like this should be encouraged by the
government. After there are enough electric buses to withstand the demand, 15-year act should be
passed.
2. Reducing traffic congestion:
As the consumption of a road network rises, traffic congestion develops. It is characterized by slower
speeds, longer travel times, and more vehicle queuing. Congestion starts to happen when there is a high
enough demand for transportation that interactions between cars cause the flow of traffic to slow down.
Congestion increases as demand approach a road's (or a road's intersections') capacity. With more than a
million automobiles currently in operation in the valley, the road system of Kathmandu valley cannot
withstand the traffic. And the capacity of the roads is the least of our problems.
As mentioned earlier, dysfunctional traffic lights and lack of proper surveillance to punish the
lawbreakers are the main reasons of traffic congestion. So, we need to digitalize the traffic system.
Implementation of License Plate Recognition (LPR) technology and proper software for traffic light
management should be using. For that to happen, infrastructures to support these should be developed.

Two wheelers consists of approximately 78% of total vehicles in kathmandu valley which is the main
cause of traffic congestion. so we must do something about it. we have options, first creating awareness
among two wheelers owners to use alternative route which doesn’t seem to work. so the second option
is to implement a congestion tax between office time for two wheelers. The idea of congestion pricing is
a conceptual first step, not a complete plan of action. This will motivate drivers to travel through
alternative routes.

Project Ecosystem:

Our main goal in this project was to decrease the emissions caused by the automobiles in Kathmandu
valley. So we were trying to build whole ecosystem of solutions to make the vehicular emission as low as
possible. In our research we found out that, 50% of vehicular emissions is caused by 20% of the vehicles
known as super-emitters. Our first goal to get rid of those super-emitters, which is the theme of our first
solution.
Steps to be executed for first solution:-
• There are just four VET centers in the Kathmandu Valley at the moment. Therefore, new VET
facilities should be established, or private parties should be given permission to do it so that, there
are at least 5,000 vehicles tested per day (based on projected future demand).
• A policy should be implemented initially to require two-wheeler VET testing. Government
should hire a different private VET facility to perform the two-wheeler test.
• Any vehicle that doesn't have a green sticker indicating it passed the test, should pay a penalty of
100,000 rupees and be prohibited from operating on valley roads.
• Portable VET device should be brought to practice. In case if traffic police has suspicion that a
green sticker may have been obtained illegally, which is very common in current practice,
according to the officials working on VET centers. If the sticker is proven to be fraudulent, then
the registration of that vehicle must be terminated effective immediately and legal action should
be charged for fraud.
• To build the infrastructures required for the proper operation of electric transportation. Such as,
charging stations, promoting businesses to run workshop for electric vehicles and cutting renewal
and road taxes.
• Amending the 20-year policy for public vehicles to 15 years.

Steps to used to be executed for second solution:-

• Building infrastructure for digitalizing traffic management system with the installment of traffic
light and CCTV cameras in required areas.
• Building proper lane division lines to guide the traffic management software.
• Minor violations like haphazard crossing of roads, driving through wrong side, etc. can cause
massive traffic congestion in dense traffic areas. Using image recognition to detect the those
 violations to punish those violators of law.
• Using AI to predict traffic, which will optimize the traffic lights to work in the most efficient way.
• Introducing congestion pricing targeting the two-wheelers, which will force people to use
alternative routes during high traffic time or completely change residence or working time.

Implementation Model:

Currently, achieving zero emissions has become the main goal of the world, but in Nepal, it feels like no
one is paying attention to the deadly effects of air pollution. Working on this project, we have felt how
bad air pollution is for us. 6.8 cigarettes equivalent, we thinking we don’t do drugs, we must very
healthy, comes out to be a lie.

At first, when we got the opportunity to work on this project, we thought building some sort of air-
purifying network around Kathmandu might be the best solution. More we worked and researched more
were we convinced that unmanaged and unsustainable urbanization was the root of every environmental
problem in the valley, where we found unmanaged traffic system and poor emission control was the main
problem of Air pollution. Then we thought, we mustn’t be the first group of students that are trying to
solve this problem, corrupt government is the main reason why no problem has been solved. But after
being the audience of some political changes like Balen Shah and Sunita Dongol being elected as the
mayor and deputy mayor of Kathmandu metropolitan city respectively, and the Swotantra Party of Rabi
Lamichhane winning 20 seats in the house, we got a glimmer of hope that our ideas would become
reality because all of our projects are designed to make changes in the policy and advancement of
technology.

Our first solution was to make advancements in the vehicular emission testing system by opening new
stations for VET or giving private parties permission to conduct VET under government surveillance.
Kathmandu metropolitan city is Rs. 11.08 Arab, which is 49.57% of the total budget Rs. 25.41 Arab
has been allocated for infrastructure development. The cost of opening and operating new government
owned VET centre is very high, so considering our time frame, we shall be focusing on allowing private
parties to run the VET tests. After Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel completely repealed excise duties on
e-vehicle imports while cutting customs duties down to the 10% and waived renewal and road taxes for
five years if an existing petroleum vehicles switches to battery power. While this policy is in the favor of
electric vehicles there aren’t enough charging stations in valley for the operation of public electric
transport. Both metropolitan and provincial government have mentioned to build charging station in
different areas of the valley.

Where as, our second solution is more dependent of metropolitan city’s infrastructure development
budget. Installment of traffic lights and installment of more than 10000 CCTV cameras. This is projected
to cost around Nrs. 20 crore. Then there comes a part of development of AI based software for traffic
management which should also be encouraged to be done by students. A bounty price of 20 lakhs should
be awarded to whoever is able to develop a best software for it.

About the congestion pricing, a special committee should be formed for the purpose of extensive research
about the socioeconomic consequences of this system.

Every human’s instinctual reaction against rapid change is opposition, so two main themes of our
solution, remove all the automobiles that are older than 15 years and congestion tax. Both of which need
drastic changes in our current system. So, we should make these changes gradually. For these two
changes to happens first of all infrastructure needed for them should be developed, first being increasing
number of electric public transport to withstand the demand after the removal of vehicles older than 15
years. Second being perfect (as efficient as it can be) traffic management system. Without it We cannot
even think of implementing congestion pricing. Our estimation is two years for infrastructure
development and one year for implementation of these plans.

Solution Viability and Scalability:

From our research, we found out that vehicular emission is the major source of air pollution in
kathmandu valley. It accounts for nearly 45 percent of all pollutants (excluding the factors like seasonal
forest fires) mainly PM2.5 and PM10, which are the deadliest among the pollutants. As mentioned earlier
20% vehicles account for 50% of pollution. So our first solution will help to reduce the number by 50%.
While our second solution is based on the idea that higher trip time for vehicles meaning higher emission.
We found that proper use of traffic lights and implementing traffic laws will help reduce the traffic
congestion by half. Which means emission will come down another 50%. It means when our plans are
fully implemented the emission of PM2.5 and PM10 will come down by approximately 75%.

When we approached this problem, we tried to search for the simplest, most efficient and practical way
to curve air pollution, then we stumbled on this. Both of our solution are divided into two parts,
infrastructure development and their usage. We have estimated a total of three years for the total
implementation of our plans. First year for infrastructure development, second for research for their best
usage and third for the rigorous changes in the policies. So talking about this year’s call to action, KMC’s
and provincial government is focusing on infrastructure development and promotion of electric vehicles
which directly coincides with our plans.

As we recall, SDG 6: clean water and sanitation

SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy
SDG 8: Sustainable cities and communities

There is a huge possibility that we humans might be the reason of our own downfall. Rapid unmanaged
development has caused various problems in our current world, so it has become everyone’s necessity to
act accordingly to Sustainable Development Goals. Our solution mainly focuses on SDG 11, that is
making cities and human settlements inclusive , safe, resilient and sustainable. Since, our solution
focuses on the solution of air pollution by vehicular management, which directly leads to the ordered and
sustainable city, which will make our kathmandu more dazzling like it was 100 years ago. General public
will finally be able to breadth fresh air of the morning, watch the beautiful silver coating of jugal himal.
While we will able to be proud to be part of campaign to conducted by kathmandu leo club,
Transforming kathmandu, “Sustainable solution to plights of kathmandu valley”.

References
1. https://kathmandu.gov.np 11. Defining congestion
2. https://pollution.gov.np 12. Technologies That Enable
3. http://doenv.gov.np Congestion pricing
4. https://ocmcm.bagamati.gov.np
5. Traffic Condition and Emission Factor from Diesel Vehicles within the Kathmandu Valley
6. Air pollution inside public transport vehicles of Kathmandu Valley
7. Investigation of Air Pollutants Related to the Vehicular Exhaust
Emissions in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal
8. https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/green-sticker-green-light-to-pollute/
9. https://www.who.int/
10. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-25/the-app-that-translates-air-pollution-into-
cigarettes