The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said it will from June 2019, clamp down on vehicles and motorbikes emitting dangerous fumes.

This follows a World Health Organization (WHO) report stating that more than 20,000 Ghanaians die each year from air pollution. 

According to the EPA, vehicles contribute to this through poisonous emissions from exhaust fumes.

But this will soon be a thing of the past.

A Deputy Director of the EPA, Ebenezer Appiah Sampong, in an interview with Joy News said the country has now developed a National Standard for vehicle emissions.

The standard which was developed in collaboration with the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), will ensure that “all vehicles will go through some remedial processes before they are brought onto the road.” 

The Ghana Police service has welcomed the standard on emissions.

Speaking to Joy News Friday, the head of education at the Motor Traffic and Transport Department [MTTD] of the Ghana Police Service said his office is excited about the new standard.  

According to Superintendent Alexander Kwaku Obeng, it has been difficult to enforce the Road Traffic Regulation 111, which criminalises discharge of oil and other substances, while a vehicle is on the road because the law did not make provision for the right standard which is permitted to be discharged while a vehicle is on the road. 

This will be a thing of the past with the passage of the new standard, which had police input. 

However, the police will require portable devices capable of detecting noncompliance while MTTD officers are manning the road.