Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula
Doha: To ensure high-quality air across the country, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) is working to set up 10 more air quality monitoring stations this year.
“So far, 20 air quality monitoring stations have been established at different locations and are connected to the national network. As per the plan, the stations will reach to 30 by the end of this year,” said Head of Air Quality Section at Monitoring and Environment Laboratory Department at MME, Abdullah Ali Al Khulaifi.
Speaking in a Qatar Radio progarmme, Al Khulaifi said that air quality monitoring stations are being set up at all stadiums, venues of FIFA World Cup 2022 to monitor the air quality.
He said that all stations have been connected with national network for monitoring air quality as per the national and international standards. “The air quality is being measured as per the standard following the environmental specifications of Qatar,” said Al Khulaifi.
He said that the air quality is being monitored round the clock seven days a week through the network connected to the stations operating inside Doha and outside of it. “The Department also implemented a programme to monitor the air quality through mobile air quality monitoring stations following emergency calls,” said Al Khulaifi.
He said that the existing stations are being upgraded and plans are afoot to build new stations to cover the whole country following the fourth pillar of Qatar National Vision 2030 which is related to environment protection and sustainability.
“Air quality in general is the degree of purity of the air around us, so that it is natural and clean enough to sustain life on the planet, and the station also monitors every change in the characteristics and specifications of natural air that results in harm or danger to the health of the environment, and all living organisms on the planet,” said Al Khulaifi.
He said that with the rapid development the country witnessed in various industrial, economic and social fields there are known challenges related to fast population growth, urban development and mega projects, which required actions by the State by making tremendous efforts to preserve air quality.
“This is what actually being done through the National Development Strategy, which placed the air quality issue among top priorities, and adopted effective projects for the department enabling the development of a unified national network for monitoring air quality,” said Al Khulaifi.
It is to be noted that the Ministry of Municipality and Environment has recently upgraded four stations for monitoring air quality by installing high-tech equipment for monitoring air quality.
More stations will be set up and connected to the network to check the air pollution following the national standard of natural air. The plan is being implemented following the law No. 30 of 2002 for protecting environment and meeting requirements of international laws and regulations in this regards.
Early warning has been enhanced to ensure air quality by measuring pollutant concentrations in the air surrounding with high accuracy and identifying the causes of pollutants, which serves the fourth pillar of Qatar National Vision 2030.
