Smoke emission testing pushed

BAGUIO CITY – The city government will push for the standardization of the testing benchmarks and procedures in the conduct of smoke emission tests for adoption by both the government and private testing centers.

           

Mayor Mauricio Domogan said this was the agreement reached to put to rest the doubt and questions on the credibility of the city’s Roadside Inspection, Testing and Monitoring Team (RITMT) operation which the mayor suspended recently.

            

City environment and parks management officer-in-charge Cordelia Lacsamana said they are now framing the guidelines for the synchronized motor specification engine particularly the average maximum RPM (revolutions per minute) standard of vehicles during the testing and procedures in the conduct of the tests in collaboration with the Land Transportation Office and the Technical Skills Development Authority (TESDA) representatives.

            

Once finalized, these guidelines will be contained in a memorandum of agreement to be signed by all the stakeholders including the transport groups, line agencies and the private emission testing centers for implementation.

            

Lacsamana said the guidelines will address the tachometer requirement which came out as one of the causes of the disparity between the city RITMT test results and those of the private companies.

            

Domogan said they also agreed that the transport group and private testing centers will be given representation in the RITMT committee to involve them in the emission testing concerns.

            

He said the city will resume the RITMT operations as the issues are now being addressed and warned private emission testing centers that will continue to defy the standardized procedures in the conduct of the tests that the city will invoke its police power to stop their business operation.

Domogan said this is in line with his administration’s program to continue improving the city’s air quality as part of his thrust for green governance in his new term as city executive.  – Aileen P. Refuerzo