| Author | Rai, Babu Ram |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.UE-98-15 |
| Subject(s) | Diesel motor exhaust gas--Nepal--Kathmandu
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of
Science. School of Environment, Resources and Development
|
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Metro Kathmandu is facing the menacing problem of vehicular emission, which poses
a serious environmental problem. Vehicular emission particularly originates more from diesel
Tempos (three wheeler vehicles). It is one of the major causes of the air pollution in the Metro.
Absence of land use planning, poor vehicle maintenance, weak enforcement of regulatory
measures, low fuel quality, and import of old vehicles are known to be the other major sources
of vehicular emission. This study focuses on the scope of greater use of regulatory and
economic instruments to abate the emission for improving the air quality of Kathmandu and
thereby contributing to urban environmental management of the city. -
An increase of urban population is a major cause of massive growth of vehicles in the
city. The urban population of the Metro was 150,402 in 1971 and it rose to 235,160 in 1981.
By 1991, the population soared to 421,258. As a result, the demand for transportation services
have increased rapidly. One response to this demand has been increased of Tempos in the city
as source of cheap transportation services. But that this cheap service is taking place at an
environmental costs is not commonly understood by all involved ..
Also, most of these vehicles use diesel as their fuels and most diesel Tempo drivers
have old vehicles. These are plying creating more pollution in the Metro. Yet, almost no diesel
Tempo owners and drivers are willing to pay environmental or pollution charges. In the
absence of proper economic and regulatory instruments' applications, this situation remains
unchanged. Conversion of diesel Tempos into electric vehicles is highly desirable to manage
the problem of emission in Kathmandu. One barrier to doing this is the high cost of conversion
DVs to EVs.
The regulatory and economic instruments have been studied for this research from the
above issues in view. Most people would like to see reduction of emission even by banning of
the Tempos. However, once they take by apply them of the regulatory and economic measures
in view, these instruments appreciate their role to contain pollution. They have suggested that
the government should provide subsidy, tax incentives and softloan for the environmentally
friendly electric vehicles' operations and promotions. These highly preferred vehicles,
however, are not getting produced now in sufficient number due to high initial investment and
operating costs. The government had already planned to provide softloan to the battery
charging operators. However, it was not acted properly until January 1999.
Making emission standard compulsory and strict enforcement are required for non
complying vehicles with the provision of higher emission charges and registration fees for
high polluting vehicles. The government should provide incentives and subsidies for EV
operations and promotions, specifically the government should provide softloan for conversion
ofDVs into EVs. |
| Year | 1999 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Urban Environmental and Management (UE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Nurul Amin, A.T.M.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Morishita, Hideharu ;Thapa, Gopal B.; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Nepal Oil Corporation, Kathmandu ;Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) ;
Canadian Universities Consortium (CUC) ; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1999 |