Cairo's infamous "black cloud" is due in town, but as the environment minister told Mahmoud Bakr, measures are being taken to stop it It is time for the "black cloud" -- the low-lying, smog-laden apparition that has haunted Cairo for the past few years -- to reappear. This year, however, the government is taking precautions to keep it away. The State Ministry for Environmental Affairs is tightening the noose on activities, industrial and otherwise, that may be causing the phenomenon in and around Cairo. Environment Minister Maged George told Al-Ahram Weekly that action has been taken within a 40- km radius of the capital city to monitor and prevent all hazardous fumes caused by the burning of rice hay and garbage. The smog is also commonly attributed to the use of mazote instead of diesel oil in smelteries and brick factories. Fumes emitted by vehicles and small to medium-sized factories are also part of the problem. The ministry, he said, has drawn up a plan to reduce these kinds of hazardous emissions. One programme involves clearing garbage dumping sites around the ring road, particularly those at Musturud, Ard Al-Liwa, Imbaba, and Al-Gabal Al-Ahmar. The ministry has commissioned the removal of 0.5 million cubic metres of garbage from around the ring road, at a cost of LE8 million. Some 0.4 million cubic metres have supposedly already been removed. A higher committee, made up of representatives from various ministries, also convenes regularly, with the environment minister as chairman. Under its supervision are three teams looking into pollution, fuel, and refuse management. George said the ministry had received about 900 calls between 19 September and 12 October from citizens reporting incidents of refuse being burned. Another programme aims at eliminating industrial pollutants in Cairo and its vicinity. Fifty brick factories in Arab Abu Said now operate on natural gas, the minister said. Fifty more factories will follow suit by the end of next year. A new area on the Anshass-Belbeis road has been allocated for coal processing factories, thanks to a cooperative effort on the part of the Armed Forces and Al-Sharqiya governorate. Some 50 feddans have also been allocated for smelteries on Al-Qatamiya road. Al- Qaliubiya is also relocating its smelteries to a new site in Al-Safa industrial zone. Governors in charge of Cairo and its outskirts have prepared a timetable for managing and reducing industrial pollutants, with a focus on relocation, production methods, and fuel use. Some smelteries are only allowed to operate between 5pm and 7am. In early September, coal- processing factories were ordered to close down. Several dozen pottery workshops have also been removed from Masr Al-Qadima as well as Al- Sharqiya governorate. Sixty smelteries were removed or shut down in Al-Duweiqa. Brick factories in Giza, meanwhile, have been ordered to apply environmentally compatible technology as soon as possible. Pottery shops in Cairo will be provided with kilns that use diesel oil. And, the minister pointed out, the number of Cairo vehicles operating on natural gas has reached 52,000. A programme for examining and regulating car exhaust in Cairo has also gone into effect. Not taking its chances, the environment ministry has also acquired 70 rice hay presses, at the cost of LE1.3 million. These presses, as well as 40 others purchased by the Agriculture Ministry, will be used to process hay in a radius of 40km outside Cairo. This will not only reduce pollution caused by hay burning, but will turn the hay into useful fodder. So far, 82,000 tonnes of hay have been pressed, and 11,000 tonnes shredded, on farmland near Cairo. Cement factories, another known cause of the capital's air pollution problem, are also being streamlined. These factories, situated in southern Cairo, produce an average of 1,200 tonnes of cement dust per year. The dust will no longer be deposited onto empty plots around the factories. The Arab Contractors company, for instance, has used about 5,000 tonnes of that dust in its operations over the past few months. And 2,000 tonnes have gone into the manufacturing of tiles and flooring slabs. Cement dust will soon be used to pave streets in various villages, the minister said. There was also a plan to introduce environmentally friendly technology in factories producing harmful emissions, George said. A list of the top 40 polluting factories has been prepared; these factories are now cleaning up their act. They do so by installing filters and switching to less- polluting fuels, such as natural gas. For example, the National Cement Company is now using filters more rigorously, and switching an entire production line to natural gas. Similar measures are being taken at the Iron and Steel Company, the Delta Steel Company, and the General Metallurgy Company, to mention just a few. The Meteorological Authority is providing the anti-pollution teams with daily reports on pollution levels and weather conditions. Smog tends to be at its worst when the air is completely still. In October, the agency expects up to 10 hours of that kind of climate per day. On those days, the anti-pollution teams will work overtime, inspecting installations along 25 different routes and reporting back to the ministry. These efforts have paid off, the minister boasted. On the morning of 6 October, for example, the concentration of airborne particles in the Cairo air averaged 117 microgrammes/cubic metre, a much lower level than the legally acceptable 350 microgrammes/cubic metre. Over the past few years, previous ministers have also announced the implementation of plans to stop the smog. Cairenes are hoping this year's initiatives will be more effective. However, in some areas around Cairo, people have already begun complaining.
