KARACHI The area surrounding the Merewether Tower came out as the noisiest place in the city with noise level at 93.67 decibels (dB) as in the noise pollution survey carried out by the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA).

A statement published here on Tuesday said that closely following the peak noise level in the city were areas like Sher Shah (93.43 dB), Liaqatabad No. 10 (91.9 dB), Empress Market (90.17 dB) and Numaish Chorangi at M A Jinnah Road (90.07 dB).

It said that this information was conveyed to the Minister for Environment and Alternate Energy, Askari Taqvi, by Director-General SEPA Dr. Mohammad Ali Shaikh, in a briefing given to him on the results of the survey on Tuesday.

Shaikh informed the Minister that highest noise generating source came out to be fire-engine siren, generating noise at level of 130 dB.

Next in line came an ambulance with its siren on, generating noise at 113dB. This was followed by pressure horns installed in Minibuses, trailers, oil-tankers in the range of 98 dB to 103 dB. The two-stroke rickshaws with normal silencers generated noise level at around 85 dB, while those without silencers went up to 98.8 dB.

Another source of noise pollution identified was motorcycles without silencers, which generated noise at 91.2 dB.

The areas with noise levels between 85 to 90 dB were Burns Road (Fresco Chowk), Tibet Centre, Seventh Day Adventist Hospital, Teen Hutti, Nazimabad No.2, Golimar Chorangi, Garden, Nazimabad HBL, Ghani Chorangi and Shaheen Complex.

The areas with noise level between 80 to 85 dB were Water Pump, Sohrab Goth, Nagan Chorangi, Hydri, Lasbella Chowk, Gulshan Chorangi, NIPA, Civic Centre, Jail Chorangi, PIDC House, Jauhar Morr, Drig Road, Karsaz Bridge, Malir No. 15, Quaidabad and Dawood Chorangi.

Briefing the Minister about methodology adopted for the survey, Shaikh informed that two teams of SEPA recorded the noise levels with the help of noise-metres at thirty busy points in the city after every two hours for twelve hours of the day, from 9.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m.

The survey was carried out for two weeks from August 21, 2008 to September 4, 2008.

The minister was informed that the survey conducted by the SEPA was second in fourteen years.

The first exercise carried out in this regard was in the year 1994.