Brick kilns to resume operation as winter sets in
Dhaka air quality to be at risk
SHEHAB AHMED
With winter round the corner, dozens of brick kilns are getting ready to go into operation soon in suburbs around the city. They will burn cheap sulphur-rich coal, and the capital would face the worst threat to its air quality. These brickfields had been dormant so long because of the rainy season.
The World Bank-funded Clean Air and Sustainable Environment (CASE) project is supporting the Bangladesh government to improve air quality in Dhaka by making improvements in the two major polluting sectors, the brick industries and transport, said the WB in its introduction to the project. However, it remains to be seen how effective that would be. Most of the brick kiln ownerssome 50 per cent, according to a former official of the forests and environment ministry, who is now working as a consultanthave not changed their system of production yet. Instead of replacing their traditional method of burning bricks using coals or wooden logs (which are cheap and available easily) with the modern hybrid Hoffman system, which does not pollute the air, they are preparing to fire their kilns as soon as November arrives on the outskirts of the city at Ashulia and Savar.
This would lace the citys air blowing from the north with sulphur dioxide, warned an official of the Department of Environment (DOE) who is working on the CASE project, who preferred anonymity. He said, The current level of air quality over the city shows 2.5 microns of sulphur dioxide against 2.10 microns, considered the safe limit. The owners of brick kilns said they have been denied bank credits because of problems with the collateral offered. But experts dismissed such allegations. Most of the influential people among the brick-kiln owners have taken loans under a USD 50-million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for converting the brick kilns from coal-burning ones to ones using Hoffman technology. Though they have taken the loans, they have spent these elsewhere.
During the monsoon, the rains wash away most of the pollutants from the air. But smoke billowing out from the brick kilns contaminates the air, worsening the haze over the city during winter fogs. This is reinforced by dust and exhaust from the citys vehicles, particularly (often overloaded) trucks and buses equipped with unfit vintage engines that run without regular servicing. The fumes they emit from burning diesel are rich in sulphur, much beyond permissible levels. And these are reinforced by thousands of heavy-duty generators at every apartment block and shopping mall that are pressed into service during power outages. Experts further said diesel-operated industrial and construction machinery and equipment add to the pollutants hanging over the city. The pollution from brick kilns around the city is reinforced by the burning of polythene bags and plastic items by plastic goods manufacturers and other small industrial units. According to experts, another source of air pollution lies across the borders, with coal still being used for many purposes in South Asian countries and China, the worlds leading user of coal-fired power plants, along with India. Fine particulate matter floats into the country along with sulphur in the northerly air, generously enriching the smog over Dhaka, experts added. It is necessary to properly apply the laws so that much of the air pollution from automobiles, industries and power plants can be reduced, they added.
