Cairo air improvement project paper

The project, to be implemented by a U.S. contractor and Egyptian public and private sector partners headed by the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), will reduce lead and total suspended particulate (TSP) emissions, support a vehicle emissions testing and tune-up (VETT) program, monitor the air quality of CAIP interventions, and initiate a public awareness and communications campaign. CAIP efforts to reduce lead emissions will focus on improving process and emissions controls for smelting operations and will begin with the development of a lead smelter action plan, to be developed in concert with private and public sector smelters. Specific interventions are to: modernize the secondary lead processing plant at General Metals; improve and possibly consolidate larger private smelters; clean-up emissions of smaller private smelters; and foster policy dialogue on lead-related issues, in particular the broad availability of unleaded gasoline and supply and demand issues in the secondary lead industry. Reduction of TSP emissions will be more complex because they are generated by more sources than are lead emissions. Initial efforts will include a pilot project to convert to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) part of two municipal bus fleets, along with technical analyses and a policy dialogue on how to reduce plant emissions at cement plants and other industrial sources. The project will use results of a recent USAID pilot program to develop a network of 150-250 private sector VETT stations across Cairo which will allow the Government of Egypt (GOE) to certify vehicles to ensure that emission standards are met. The project will institute a program to monitor the impact of all project interventions on Cairo"s air quality. This program will complement the air quality monitoring program for all of Egypt being introduced by Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA). The USAID program will focus on: ambient monitoring to detect changes in lead concentration near lead smelters; emissions testing from either stationary or mobile sources; and monitoring in support of project analyses, such as changes in the contributions of various sources to ambient particulates. This component will also support analyses and specialized studies to identify further interventions that might be pursued by USAID through this project, other donors" projects, or the GOE. Finally, the project will support a public awareness and communications campaign, to be conducted jointly by a research firm and an advertising agency, on the dangers posed by air pollution. The aim of the campaign is to engender understanding, a constituency, and ultimately support for the project"s efforts within the GOE and among the Egyptian public. The project contributes to USAID"s environmental strategic objective, the adoption of water and air protection practices and the revised objective, reduced generation of industrial/commercial pollution.