Pollution advice

[Klaus]

As a regular visitor to your beautiful Island I cannot avoid to see how the heavy traffic pollutes the air, especially in Port Louis.
Why not change the fuel for busses and other public transportation to alcohol. This is done in Argentina and in many other countries with excellent results.
You have the sugarcane and associated waste products to do it. Use them instead of that low quality oil. Any surplus alcohol can be stored and/or sold.
The technical change for the vehicles is very easy to do. The existing vehicles can be used. It might also improve the trade deficit of Mauritius.
When sugar prices fall you can increase the alcohol production. When sugar prices go up you can sell the sugar. This might also have a good balancing effect on the whole economy

Klaus

[joana]

I would like to add the following information from the Ministry of Environment:




 Most of the energy used in Mauritius is generated using heavy fuel oil or kerosene. During the cane harvest season, the sugar factories use bagasse for production of electricity to run their factories and any excess of electricity is sold to the Central Electricity Board for the National grid.

 In Mauritius, air pollution is mostly from industries and vehicular traffic. No incineration of waste is being effected now. Ambient and emission standards for air are in force. Two ambient air quality monitoring stations (one fixed and the other mobile) have been set up to monitor the air quality continuously. Results are being compiled and will be made available shortly. A National Land Transport Strategy Study is presently being conducted and will make recommendations on all aspects related to land transport.

 Noise standards are in force. The Department of Environment has set up an Environmental Police to attend to environmental complaints from public and to make noise surveys to determine noise levels. Officers from the Department of Environment usually give advice on how to abate noise problems.

 With regards to the Convention on Climate Change, the National Climate Committee has set up several working groups to deal with the impacts of climate change on different sectors and take corrective measures where feasible. There has been a severe drought during the last two years but it is uncertain whether this could be attributable to climate change.

 Government is seriously considering an alternative mode of transport to ease pressure from dense traffic during peak hours.