The government is reviving a Tk 10 crore project to make petroleum products lead-free in the wake of widespread public concern on lead pollution and its impact on humans particularly children.

It has asked the Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL), the country's lone oil refinery, to reactivate its lead separator unit to install new equipment under the project, sources said. The unit has been lying idle for a long time.

ERL refines only 42 per cent of national consumption and the rest is imported. The new rule to keep fuel lead-free would also be applicable to imports, the sources said.

The decision coincides with a World Bank approval of a US$ 177 million loan to deal with Dhaka's traffic congestion and air pollution under a joint programme of the government and the Dhaka City Corporation.

A WB announcement said, "Public exposure to air pollution in Dhaka is estimated to cause 15,000 premature deaths and several million cases of sickness every year."

World Bank-sponsored studies, done by Department of Environment and Atomic Energy Commission, have showed that the city's air in certain areas has had high levels of lead pollution - as much as 463 nanograms per cubic metre. And 50 tonnes of lead are deposited in the city's air annually.

The sources said the ERL equipment to take lead off the fuel had been out of order for sometime at the ageing refinery.

ERL had been recently closed for maintenance and repair of its equipment including a tower.

The government decision also follows a vigorous campaign by environmentalists and health workers, backed by The Daily Star, for use of unleaded fuel.

Last week, a child neurologist disclosed the findings of a study that showed presence of lead in blood samples of children eight times higher than the limit permitted by World Health Organisation (WHO).

Dr Naila Khan, the child neurologist, conducted her survey on children reporting for behavioural and other mental disorders at Dhaka Shishu Hospital.

According to an earlier government decision, the petrol should have been refined or imported with small quantity of lead of 0.015 gram per litre. But there had been 0.45 gram of lead in one litre of octane, the sources said.

The situation turned worse after the lead cleaning equipment had gone out of order. ERL has been instructed to speed up the process of fixing its equipment.

If necessary, it has been told to go ahead without "lengthy" tender procedure, the sources said.

All petroleum importers have been told to import octane-92 instead of octane- 96 as the latter has higher contents of lead.

Bangladesh consumes more than two lakh tonnes of petrol annually and one lakh tonnes of octane. It also consumes more than eight lakh tonnes of kerosene and 16 lakh tonnes of diesel.