Editor,

RE: "Govt cracks down on toxic cars” (The New Times, February 17).

While REMA and the Police may be doing a lot, and we applaud them for what they are doing, I am sure that they could be doing much more.

I’m a layperson, not a technician. All I know is that the quality of the air I breathe in Kigali has deteriorated precipitously over the last few years. And there’s no sign again—to the layperson that I am—that the situation is about to improve.

I’ve never seen the Police pull over a vehicle for excessive emissions, for example, and goodness knows they have plenty of opportunity to do so. By my rough estimate, one out of every three or four vehicles currently on the road should be declared not roadworthy.

The figures are even higher, I would say, when it comes to commercial vehicles. What’s my standard for knowing when a vehicle should be pulled? When you drive behind it and can’t keep your window down for fear of choking.

And how can it be that of all the vehicles subjected to emissions testing, "very few have been fined for non-compliance”?

Strangely, you find such vehicles having certificates from the police’s motor vehicle technical inspection centre (controle technique).

Something is wrong there. The laws are on the books, and they are good laws. Let’s start to see some significant enforcement of them.

Chris

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You know the biggest of the culprits: Just ban those Fuso trucks from Dubai and the air pollution in Kigali may be reduced by a factor of two. Most, if not all, of those junk of metals are 30 to 40 years old, poorly burn petrol to just emit dangerous levels of toxic fumes.

But REMA wants us to believe that it is doing something on that front. Nothing.

REMA, where are the figures? How many air quality stations in Kigali? Where can one get live hourly, daily, weekly, monthly annual data on air quality at least in Kigali alone?

I should remind REMA that the latest report on air quality in Kigali that is available is dated 2011 (five years ago), yet cars have almost doubled since then.

REMA have a lot on their plate. If there are people in there who are incompetent, to the extent where toxic chemicals are soon going to engulf citizens, I don’t see what they are waiting forstepping out of their offices.

Bigaruka