Air quality dips further in some areas

Air quality dips further in some areas

PETALING JAYA: Visibility along highways in the Klang Valley and the North South Expressway towards the north has 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.

According to the Department of Environment 42 areas are in the moderate air quality range (82%) while nine in the good range (17%).

~News courtesy of The Star~