Palm | Kelapa Sawit

Channel NewsAsia 12 Mar 13;

SINGAPORE: Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan announced that the government will be enhancing standards to improve air quality in Singapore.

The government will impose Euro V emissions standards for new diesel vehicles starting from 1 January next year.

Currently, there are around 3,400 Euro V-compliant diesel vehicles on the roads.

Dr Balakrishnan said in Parliament more needs to be done as existing old diesel vehicles are a major source of pollution.

To incentivise the owners of old diesel commercial vehicles to retire and upgrade their old vehicles, a new Early Turnover Scheme will be implemented.

More details will be provided in the next two months.

The emissions standard for all new motorcycles will also be raised from 1 October 2014.

On the topic of air pollution from overseas, Dr Balakrishnan said more is also being done.

Member of Parliament for Joo Chiat SMC, Charles Chong, said: "We are very fortunate that on the whole, we are enjoying very good air quality in Singapore. Partly because of our geographical location, the biggest physical concern is trans-boundary smoke haze which sometimes blows into Singapore. This is an issue which has been going on for many years now."

Dr Balakrishnan responded: "This is a chronic, recurrent problem. As I've said before, in fact this is a commercial problem. Working with our fellow ministers and ministries in ASEAN, we're trying to put pressure on companies by using digital geo-referenced concession maps, and satellite and other mapping technologies so that ultimately we can name and shame the culprits for engaging in such anti-environment and anti-social activities."

- CNA/xq

Tighter emission standards for diesel vehicles, motorcycles
Ministry of Environment and Water Resources has also taken steps to tackle rise in sea levels
Woo Sian Boon Today Online 12 Mar 13;

SINGAPORE — Emission standards for diesel vehicles and motorcycles will be tightened in the Government’s push to improve air quality, as Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan yesterday outlined plans to tackle raising sea levels and enhance the country’s waste management systems.

To reduce the level of particulate matter (PM) 2.5 — a very fine pollutant which can cause respiratory problems — Dr Balakrishnan said emission standards for new diesel vehicles will be raised to Euro V from Jan 1 next year. Vehicles currently account for 57 per cent of PM2.5 emissions here.

An Early Turnover Scheme that aims to encourage the turnover and upgrading of some 38,000 old commercial vehicles with pre-Euro or Euro I emission standards will also be implemented. These vehicles were mostly bought before Jan 1, 2001.

More details will be provided by the National Environment Agency (NEA) and Land Transport Authority within the next two months, Dr Balakrishnan said.

The NEA also announced yesterday that test standards for existing diesel vehicles will be tightened from 50 Hartridge Smoke Units (HSU) to 40 HSU to reduce air pollution brought about by smoky diesel vehicles.

Tighter emission standards will also apply to motorcycles, which will have standards raised to Euro III by Oct 1 next year.

“These new motorcycles will emit less than a fifth of the pollutants compared to the current fleet,” Dr Balakrishnan said. There are more than 143,000 motorcycles on the roads, most of which are of Euro I standard.

Motorcycle dealers interviewed said the higher emission standards could lead to bikes costing 20 to 30 per cent more, potentially hitting budget buyers the hardest.

President of the Singapore Motor Cycle Trade Association (SCMTA) Wilson Phoon, who noted that most motorcycles are currently imported from around South-east Asia, said: “If we are moving to Euro III, then we will have to import models from Europe. This will cost a lot more.”

Calling the shift from Euro I to Euro III by October next year “sudden” and “too short” for the industry to make the necessary adjustments, Mr Phoon also said that the association has appealed to the NEA “for a grace period to implement the changes”.

In response, an NEA spokesperson said the association’s appeal for a three-month grace period to allow “a few members” to register the existing stock of pre-Euro III motorcycles after October next year has been rejected.

“Taking into account the lead time already given, MEWR/NEA assessed that the implementation date of Oct 1, 2014, would not pose problems to the majority of motorcycle brands and thus decided not to accede to SMCTA’s appeal. This decision has been communicated to SMCTA accordingly,” the spokesperson added.

In Parliament yesterday, Dr Balakrishnan said the ministry is guarding against an anticipated rise in sea levels of “anything between 60cm and a metre or beyond” by increasing the platform levels for reclaimed land by 1 metre last year.

“So all reclaimed land now will be at least 2.25m above the highest recorded sea level. This is buying insurance for the future,” he said.

On Nominated Member of Parliament Faizah Jamal’s concerns that the Semakau Landfill will run out of space in the next 40 years, he said the ministry is planning a new Waste-to-Energy incineration plant to maximise resource recovery and reduce landfill space. A Phase 2 has also been “marked out” that will increase the landfill’s size to meet Singapore’s disposal needs “until 2035”.

Concerted drive to make roads less polluted
Royston Sim Straits Times 13 Mar 13;

THE Government will roll out several measures to improve air quality on the roads.

It will implement a scheme to encourage owners of older vehicles to retire them earlier and upgrade to newer, more environment- friendly models.

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan said yesterday that an Early Turnover Scheme will be set up to incentivise a switch to vehicles that meet the Euro 5 emissions standard.

He noted that existing old diesel vehicles remain a major source of pollution.

There are about 38,000 old diesel commercial vehicles of pre-Euro or Euro 1 emissions standards with substantial PM2.5 emissions bought before Jan 1, 2001, he said.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) and Land Transport Authority will provide more details on this scheme in the next two months.

Dr Balakrishnan added that, from Jan 1 next year, the test standard for diesel vehicles will be tightened from 50 Hartridge Smoke Units to 40. The NEA will ramp up its enforcement against smoky vehicles on the roads.

Standards for motorcycle emissions will also be raised.

Dr Balakrishnan said there are more than 143,000 motorcycles on the roads, mostly of Euro 1 standard. From October next year, the emissions standard for all new motorcycles will be raised to the Euro III standard.

These new motorcycles will emit less than a fifth of the pollutants compared to the current fleet, he noted.

The Motor Traders Association (MTA) mooted a proposal akin to the Early Turnover Scheme last November.

In a paper, the MTA proposed cash grants be given to encourage owners of old commercial vehicles to switch to newer ones.

It called for a one-off incentive payment of at least $10,000 per replacement of a pre-Euro 4 vehicle with a model that meets Euro 4 or higher standards.

Still, during last month’s Budget speech, the Government announced that commercial vehicle owners would have the option to extend their Certificate of Entitlement for a further five years.

It said this was to ease their cash flow and provide flexibility.