Deputy Prime Minister directs handling of air pollution in Hanoi

On March 26, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha chaired a working session with the Hanoi People's Committee on inspecting, urging, removing difficulties and obstacles and promoting disbursement of public investment capital in 2025; At the same time, he listened to a report on ensuring traffic order and safety and controlling air pollution in the city.

At the meeting, Vice Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee Le Kim Thanh said that 56% - 65% of air pollution comes from transportation activities. In Hanoi, there are currently 1.2 million cars and nearly 8 million motorbikes, 70% of which are used for over 10 years, creating a huge source of emissions.

According to Mr. Le Kim Thanh, to solve pollution, ministries and branches must support Hanoi city to issue emission standards for cars and motorbikes; soon implement motorbike emission inspection; continue to control pollution sources such as construction works, uncovered transportation of construction materials, burning of straw and agricultural by-products after harvest; continue to develop green means of transport...

Regarding this content, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha affirmed that the Central Government will work with Hanoi to resolve the issue. In response to Hanoi's proposal to study the coordination mechanism between ministries - provinces and provinces - provinces to exchange environmental data and handle inter-regional and inter-provincial pollution, the Deputy Prime Minister agreed to assign the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to submit to the Prime Minister a decision to establish a Steering Committee on air pollution resolution for Hanoi city located in the Capital Region, agree on a specific plan, specific responsibilities of each ministry, sector, and locality, along with an operating mechanism.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to coordinate with Hanoi and localities to urgently develop a project, complete the establishment of the Steering Committee in April 2025 and submit to the Steering Committee the operating regulations, working regulations, etc.

“Hanoi needs to evaluate that if the cause of air pollution and traffic congestion is due to too many personal vehicles, it should be limited by using economic tools to regulate, not banned by administrative measures. The Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment should issue high standards for personal vehicles, especially motorbikes, and issue them this April. Hanoi City should base on that to issue higher standards,” the Deputy Prime Minister suggested.

According to the IQAir air monitoring system, at 7:41 this morning - March 26, Hanoi ranked 10th in the list of 126 polluted cities in the world by IQAir. Specifically, with an AQI index of 159, Hanoi's air quality is at the "unhealthy" red level.

Air pollution in Hanoi has recently returned as the capital is no longer affected by cold air waves. The latest statistics show that in the past 7 days, air pollution has been alarmingly unhealthy with an average AQI of over 150 units.

Authorities said the main reason for Hanoi's serious pollution is unfavorable weather, with air not circulating upward. At low altitudes, there is a lot of fog, making the air thick and stagnant.

Minh Trang

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/pho-thu-tuong-chi-dao-xu-ly-o-nhiem-khong-khi-ha-noi-post543565.html