Georgia to Tighten Car Emission Control
A new draft of law, which lays out new amendments for car owners, has been reviewed at the Government’s meeting on December 3rd.
A new research exposed car emissions as the main factor in Georgia’s capital city Tbilisi's air pollution, which is a cause of major concern for the citizen's health.
“In several cities, including Tbilisi, research of air samples has shown that the main polluting source of air is automobiles. This mainly depends on the overdue vehicle park. Together of the poor quality of fuel, consistence of toxic gases in the emissions, which is the result of incomplete combustion, the main problem of pollution," Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Protection Gigla Agulashvilisaid.
According to Agulashvili, one of the main causes is ordinary citizens removing and selling the catalytic converters from their cars. Catalytic converters are one of the most important parts of a car's emissions control system. It converts harmful pollutants into less harmful emissions before they leave the car's exhaust system.
The Environmental Minister highlighted that according to current data, air quality indicators in some districts of Tbilisi meet the medium level of euro standards. To improve the situation, “we need to take action and steps to change our vehicle park,” he added.
Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili also supports to the initiative and emphasized that in terms of ecology in Tbilisi “we have a disaster”.
“What I hear for people, most of them are annoying and complain that vehicles are moving without special catalytic converters, which filters to toxic emissions form cars. I would like also to ask you, to control the quality of fuel, diesel, petrol, on a regular basis ", Garibashvili addressed to the members of the Government.
The Prime Minister also announced that to increase availability of the catalytic converter, the companies selling it are asked to install them a well. Mandatory insurance of cars, including technical inspection, will be introduced in the near future.
“Of course this process will take time and we will not ask people do it right now. We will develop a plan which we will present in the near future to the public, but before that, we suggest you to conduct survey of public opinions and understand what is citizens’ approach to this issue,” Garibasvili said.
The announcement to restrict car related air pollutants comes while Minister of Internal Affairs Giorgi Mgebrishvili presents a new draft law prohibiting the registration of right-hand drive vehicles.
Tamar Svanidze