EKURHULENI Metro will be prioritising the city’s air quality and invites interested parties to get involved in the reviewing processes.
Because the metro is the industrial hub of Africa and is home to heavy trades such as the manufacturing and processing industries, the city falls within the Highveld priority area, making it highly susceptible to air pollution.
Air quality plays an essential role in climate change, therefore negative climate change issues cannot be dealt with in isolation to the quality of air.
Therefore, the metro invites all stakeholders and environmental fundis to be a part of this year’s review process of the Air Quality Management Plan (AQMP).
The AQMP review process seeks to provide direction on identifying the main sources of air pollution and the extent of their negative impact on human life; to address the effects of emissions from industrial sources; to give effect to best practice in air quality management as well as to improve air quality, among other things.
“Ekurhuleni has numerous sources of air pollution such as domestic coal burning, industries and mining, hence, as the city, we aim to channel all our resources to the improvement of air quality,” Ekurhuleni metro spokesman, Themba Gadebe, explained.
The stakeholder engagement process will be in the form of meetings, review reports and the submission of comments during the AQMP review process.
Stakeholders wishing to participate on the AQMP reviewing process need to register by Wednesday, March 25, with Edmund van Wyk or Abdul Ebrahim.
Van Wyk can be contacted on Edmund.vwyk@ekurhuleni.gov.za or 011-999-2470/2971. Ebrahim can be contacted on abdul@escience.co.za or 011-718-6380 or fax 086-692-4840.
