ISLAMABAD, July 4: The Minister for Climate Change Rana Mohammad Farooq Saeed Khan on Wednesday said refineries were very slow in taking steps to produce low sulphur diesel.

“We must improve fuel quality and introduce modern technology in vehicles to bring the pollution level down in the cities for protecting public health,” said Rana Mohammad Farooq Saeed Khan while chairing a meeting to review implementation of Pak-II (Euro-II) emission standards.

The Euro-II standard, which was more stringent emission standards for new vehicles, was adopted by the government in 2009.

The Ministry of Petroleum had directed all refineries to produce Euro-II compliant diesel by January 1, 2012.

Director General, Pak-EPA, Asif Shuja Khan told Dawn that auto industry had successfully achieved compliance of Euro-II in petrol driven vehicles.

“But due to high sulphur content in diesel (0.5%), Euro-II compliant diesel driven vehicles could not be manufactured despite strong will shown by the vehicle manufacturers,” the DG said.

Asif Shuja explained that only Parco was producing required quality of diesel while rest of the refineries had higher content of sulphur.

However, during the meeting the representatives of refineries were of the view that heavy investments was required to reduce sulphur from diesel but no financial gain could be realised on this investment. The refineries were willing to investment but they had resource constraint.

Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) emphasized on clear timeframe for availability of required specification of diesel and suggested two years lead time to bring Euro-II compliant diesel vehicle in the market.

While summing up discussions, the federal minister stated that all refineries should make maximum endeavours to resolve air pollution issue that was predominating with increasing numbers of vehicles. The minister warned that his ministry would use the highest forum to recommend import of better quality fuel into Pakistan if refineries did not upgrade their technologies for cleaner fuel and cleaner air.

The meeting was attended by representatives of PAMA, 2 and 3 wheelers manufacturers, representatives of refineries, and senior officers of PSO, EDB, Pak-EPA, Ministries of Petroleum, Industry and Climate Change.