Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project

dust, and emissions from brick fields. The three ferry ghats located in the Project area are - Mawa atleft bank and Char Janajat and Kathalbari at right bank. Vehicles that cross the River by ferries veryoften gather at both the ghats leading to traffic congestion with long idling hours and idling emissions.Air quality measurements carried out by BUET during dry season in November 2009 (to present theworst case scenario) in 8 locations of the Project area (4 on left bank and 4 on right bank) and themonitoring results are given in Table 3-25. Bangladesh national standards for ambient air quality arealso presented in this table. The averaging time of the monitoring samples are different from theaveraging time of the standards. Therefore comparing the ambient concentration levels with thenational standards is not possible. The ambient concentrations are estimated using ConversionFactors for Averaging Times of the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Canada and presented in Table3-26. The ambient air contain enormous amount of particles which clog all samplers within couple ofhours, which make it impossible to monitor the air quality data for a longer period of time. Extremelyhigh concentrations of all pollutants are observed in all locations. The high concentrations of allpollutants at Service Area 1 (SA1), ferry ghats, RS3 and Panchchar) are due to (i) traffic congestionsdue to movement of diesel vehicles, (ii) presence of very old and poorly maintained vehicles, (iii) longhours of idling adjacent to the ferry ghats for crossing the River, (iv) resuspension of dust from theroads especially near the ferry ghats, and (v) River traffic. The higher concentration of PM2.5 inresettlement sites can not be justified, on the contrary very low (almost nil), PM2.5 concentration inMawa Ferryghat and Shameshpur Village (proposed service area in Mawa side) is not also justified.The Consultant has advised BUET to make another measurement of PM2.5 in these sites to verify theresults.Table 3-25: Ambient air quality monitoring data of the Project area (concentrations are in g/m 3 )ID Location Averaging PM 10 PM 2.5 SPM SO x NO x PbTime (min)AQM-1 Shameshpur Village 165 410.0 0.00 963.0 65.6 29.6 0.55(SA1), Mawa SideAQM-2 Ferry Ghat, Mawa Side 60 804.0