Iran, Japan conclude cooperation deal to control Tehran air pollution

EghtesadOnline: Tehran Municipality signed a cooperation agreement on Monday with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to contain the capital’s air pollution for a period of four years.

News ID: ۷۷۹۴۸۴

27 September 2017

Managing director of Tehran Air Quality Control Company Vahid Hosseini said that the deal is aimed at boosting scientific, educational and equipment cooperation to bring Tehran air pollution under control, IRNA reported.

Executor of the deal in Iran is Tehran Air Quality Control Company affiliated to Tehran Municipality while JICA will act on behalf of Japan, he said.

Noting that JICA has so far implemented various projects in the field of environment in developing countries, including Iran, he said that the governmental organization in also engaged in reviving Urumieh Lake.

Under the agreement, which took two years to complete, Iranian and Japanese experts will strive to tackle the challenge, he said, noting that they will initially identify major sources of pollution and then take measures to curb them.

On the cost of the deal, Hosseini said that the Iranian side will pay nothing and the Japanese government will pay seven million dollars to JICA in exchange for nothing.

Touching in transfer of equipment and technology to the country, Hosseini said that Japanese cabinet has approved the country’ equipment supply to Iran and air analysis equipment will enter Iran under a separate deal between Tehran Municipality and Japanese government.

Meanwhile, The president of JICA office in Iran, Yukiharu Kobayashi said that under the project Japanese experts will provide Iranian experts with knowledge and experience on reducing air pollution.

Air pollution has tuned into a major challenge to the Iranian government in recent years. It has adopted many strategies to address the challenge such as implementing odd-even scheme under which cars with license plates ending in odd numbers will be kept indoors and vice versa.

School closures were announced in mega cities as part of the programs to ensure safety of the students. Other sensitive groups were also urged to stay indoors and avoid unnecessary travels to central parts of the cities.

However, all these measures were not sufficient to deal with the issue and the country has embarked on concluding a deal with a foreign company to solve the problem.

Air quality of megacities, particularly Tehran, begins to drop as winter approaches, causing problems both for the nation and government.