KenaSaman.com

PETALING JAYA: Visibility along highways in the Klang Valley and the North South Expressway towards the north have been reduced due to the haze.

A spokesman from the PLUS Traffic Monitoring Centre said motorists should be extra careful when driving along the Federal Highway due to the hazy conditions.

Along the New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE), stretches with reduced visibility are recorded between Damansara and Subang.

The spokesman said visibility on the northern routes of the NSE, especially heading towards Gurun, Kedah has been reduced.

"If it gets worse, we will alert motorists through Twitter or the electronic message board along highways,” the spokesman said.

The air worsened Tuesday morning with over 82% of areas categorised as having moderate air quality as at 7am.

One of the affected areas is Bukit Rambai in Malacca which has an Air Pollutant Index (API) reading of 93 (83 on Monday).

(The API reading of 51 to 100 is considered moderate and 101 to 200 unhealthy.)

Most areas which were hazy on Monday had higher APIs Tuesday.

Some of the areas with API reading of between 51 and 100 (moderate air quality) are:

Malacca town 77, Nilai 77, Port Dickson 82, Seremban 66, Balok Baru (Kuantan) 63, Jerantut 67, Seri Manjung 75, Tanjung Malim 83, Banting 81, Kuala Selangor 82, Port Klang 79, Petaling Jaya 76, Shah Alam 78, Cheras 69, Putrajaya 65 and Batu Muda 78.

Read the full article:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?fi ... sec=nation

TAPAH: North-bound motorists on the North-South Expressway experienced bad air quality but thought it was “slightly better” than in Selangor.

Factory manager Hasnan Sidek, who was on his way from Shah Alam to Ipoh, said visibility along the highway in Perak was much better.

“Earlier, I had doubts driving back to Ipoh due to the poor visibility in Shah Alam caused by the haze. The air quality along the highway looked bad but I think the visibility here is much clearer than in Shah Alam,” said the 55-year-old at the rest and recreational area here yesterday.

A businessman known only as Law concurred, saying that the air quality in Kuala Lumpur was bad.

“I think visibility in KL was about 2km compared to the highway here,” said the 39-year-old, who was heading for Alor Setar.

In Negri Sembilan, the Air Pollutant Index (API) readings were moderate with Port Dickson the worst hit at 74 and Seremban at 58.

State Department of Environment (DOE) director Charanpal Singh said readings at the two monitoring stations and the one in Nilai showed air quality in the moderate range.

“In fact, there was an improvement from readings taken earlier in the day,” he said, adding that the department was keeping a watch on the index and had enforcement officers patrolling industrial areas, landfills and construction sites for illegal activities.

“We have placed radio announcements on Negri FM informing people to stop open burning or face fines up to RM2,000,” he said, adding that they had also launched Ops Asap to check on vehicles emitting fumes.

The public can call the department hotline at 012-229-5692 to complain.

Read the full article:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?fi ... sec=nation