Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1186724
21.11.19 12 OPINION George Mangion T raffic congestion comes at a cost to business as commuters are now spending more time waiting in endless queues - bumper to bumper. A study commissioned by the University has revealed that commuters and busi- nesses have to put up with "significant economic costs". Such a study found that costs include extra time spent, apart from addition- al fuel costs, resultant accidents and the causes of bad health from pure air quality. ese are projected to cost us a staggering €721 million by 2025. Is it no coincidence, that last year Govern- ment announced by 2025 to spend €700 million to improve the frail road infra- structure. But is widening of roads and build- ing of new fly-overs a 100% solution to ease traffic congestion and curtail island emissions? Not entirely. With regards to noise pollution, a re- cent parliamentary question, saw the Minister for Home Affairs saying that the police had no equipment capable of measuring the decibel level of street noise and there was no law to regulate sound levels. It is true that the Muscat government has attracted private investors to pour millions so as to convert the BWSC/ Delimara plant to run on LNG - previ- ously burning heavy fuel oil to generate electricity. On its own, this has reduced consid- erably the emissions in the South where such heavy plants are located. Again on a strange note it is pollution, but not traffic noise, that is linked to an increased risk of having low-birth- weight babies. is overrules older studies which blamed road traffic air pollution to low birth weight babies. Nevertheless, excessive road traf- fic produces noise as well as pollution which is associated with adverse health effects, such as sleep disruption, in- creased blood pressure, and cardiovas- cular disease. is has been revealed by a study lead- er Rachel Smith at the School of Public Health of the Imperial College in Lon- don. Back to Malta, it has joined other third world countries which suffer from pol- lution due to traffic density exacerbated by its pot holed village road infrastruc- ture caused by the ever growing num- ber of heavy construction vehicles. Close to 380,000 ageing vehicles (al- most one for each resident - mostly im- ported second-hand) clog the narrow streets - this is making commuting a daily nightmare as more tourists arrive. Welcome to the streets in Istanbul. e solution is not an easy one. As stat- ed earlier, the growing level of car emis- sions creates an ecosystem of a carcino- genesis cloud which is not healthy. A bigger problem (which is often ig- nored by public opinion) are air pol- lution measurements taken in Grand Harbour. Last year, a study showed how with just three cruise ships in berth, par- ticulate matter pollution was 50 times that expected and 10 times more that found in most traffic congested roads. Other European studies have also shown that air pollution in Malta causes the premature death of around 600 peo- ple every single year. ank God - the IMO latest directive came to the rescue. By next January, it will come in force the implementation of the Interna- tional Maritime Organization's most ambitious and far-reaching regulato- ry amendments on low sulphur fuels used by ships. While restrictions on sulphur emissions from ships have ex- isted for quite some time in specifically designated regions (known as emission control areas), the envisaged transition on a global scale is proving to be quite daunting. As at January 1, 2020, the permissible sulphur content in marine fuels con- sumed by all ocean-going vessels will drop from the present 3.5 per cent m/m (mass by mass) to just 0.5 per cent m/m in accordance to Annex VI to the Inter- national Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships. Apart from regulatory compliance, the effectiveness of IMO 2020 will be dependent on proper monitoring and enforcement. e expected hike in the price of low sulphur fuel reflects the differential between compliant 0.5 per cent fuels and high sulphur fuels. is price differential may tempt unscrupulous ship owners to risk non-compliance. is temptation could become a more realistic threat should the new IMO regime fail to be ade- quately enforced since, as an agency of the United Nations, the IMO has no au- thority to enforce the new limits. us, enforcement will depend pre- dominantly on flag States and Port State Control. Port States are expected to conduct initial inspections based on documents and other possible materi- als, including remote sensing and port- able devices. For instance, port State control offi- cials may need to examine the vessel's certification such as the International Air Pollution Prevention (IAPP) Certif- icate as well as the copies of the bunker delivery notes for the last supplies fur- nished to the ship. Readers may question the scale of the problem. Suffice to note that around 85,000 tankers and cargo ships pass through the Sicily-Malta channel annu- ally. When the wind is from the north- west, which is 70 per cent of the time, the pollution that comes our way on a daily basis is substantial. SOX, NOX and PM gases in the air increase hu- man health risks, causing premature deaths from lung cancer, cardiovascular (heart) disease and lung immune sys- tem disorders. Air pollution causes other health problems, such as childhood asthma. On average, it is a fact that Cruise ships spend up to 12 hours in port. To quote a busy port, one reflects that a total of 105 cruise ships berthing in Barcelona emitted five times the amount of SOX than the city's 559,000 passenger cars. In 2017, 203 cruise liners emitted 62 kilotonnes of sulphur oxide (SOX), 155 Kt of nitrogen oxide (NOX), 10 Kt of particulate matter (PM) and 10,286 Kt of carbon dioxide, while in European waters. Most of these emissions took place in the Mediterranean. It is often over- looked, that such cruise ships emitted 20 times more disease-causing SOX in European seas than all of Europe's 260+ million passenger vehicles. Such alarming statistics may seem exaggerat- ed however, empirical studies show that ship's fuel is less refined than that used by cars. Additionally, pollution from ships is airborne and therefore pollutes over a very large area. On the other hand, for the residents of Birzebbugia and Marsaxlokk one can- not turn a blind eye to pollution pro- duced by ships berthed at the Freeport. ese cargo ships are busy in their reg- ular transshipment of containers (now handling over 3 million TEU's). To conclude, there is also the aviation industry which joins the club as a heavy polluter. On average, 43,000 aircraft arrive and depart from Malta annu- ally. is means that all these aircraft are landing and taking off and flying in close proximity over large tracts of Mal- ta and Gozo. ank heaven that for a start, our country can next year start to gain from the new IMO directive and the drive by government to announce its future policy concerning the importation of electric cars in a programmed drive to slowly replace existing fossil fueled cars. Air and noise pollution - and the need to safeguard against both George Mangion is a senior partner of an audit and consultancy firm, and has over 25 years experience in accounting, taxation, financial and consultancy services. His efforts have seen PKF being instrumental in establishing many companies in Malta and ensured PKF become one of the foremost professional financial service providers on the Island