The National Assembly urgently calls for measures to curb air pollution in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

This is one of the tasks and solutions outlined in the Resolution on the results of the thematic supervision "The implementation of policies and laws on environmental protection since the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 came into effect," which was passed by the National Assembly on the morning of December 10th.

Secretary General of the National Assembly and Head of the National Assembly Office, Le Quang Manh, presented a report on the acceptance and explanation of opinions from National Assembly deputies.

According to the Resolution, in addition to the achievements, the detailed regulations and implementation of the Law on Environmental Protection still have some limitations and shortcomings.

Specifically, environmental pollution still occurs in some places, sometimes at a serious level, especially air pollution (due to fine dust) in big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City; environmental quality in some river sections concentrated in densely populated areas, production, business, service establishments, craft villages in the Cau River basin, Nhue - Day River, and Bac Hung Hai irrigation system is slowly improving.

In addition, technical infrastructure for environmental protection, especially in the collection and treatment of domestic solid waste and wastewater, is still lacking and outdated, not meeting requirements (currently, the rate of industrial clusters and craft villages with wastewater treatment systems that meet standards is still low (31.5% and 16.6%); only about 18% of the total urban wastewater is collected and treated; the rate of direct burial of domestic solid waste, although reduced, still accounts for a high proportion)...

Regarding the main tasks and solutions to be completed by the end of 2026, the National Assembly requested the Government and the Prime Minister to direct ministries, branches and localities to review, amend and supplement legal regulations related to environmental protection taxes and fees in 2026. Continue to review, amend and supplement relevant legal regulations in the following years, ensuring effective implementation of environmental protection policy objectives.

" Issuing and effectively implementing the National Action Plan on pollution remediation and air quality management for the 2025-2030 period, with a vision to 2045; at the same time, immediately implementing urgent measures to control, prevent, remediate and improve air pollution in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City ," the Resolution stated.

Complete the assessment of the carrying capacity and announce the plan for managing the surface water quality of some inter-provincial river basins that play an important role in socio-economic development; improve the environmental quality of some seriously polluted river sections on the rivers: Ngu Huyen Khe, To Lich, Bac Hung Hai irrigation system.

The National Assembly requested a review, assessment, and updating, as necessary, of strategies, plans, and programs related to environmental protection and climate change response to meet the requirements of "expanding and creating new development spaces."

In particular, the National Assembly noted and focused on assessing and forecasting the impacts of climate change, saltwater intrusion, and natural disasters, especially in sensitive areas such as in some large urban areas (cities: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Da Nang, etc.), the Mekong Delta, and coastal areas; double-digit economic growth on the basis of ensuring the consistent principle of not trading the environment for purely economic development, and respecting the laws of nature.

The Government is also required to urgently complete and put into operation the national environmental information and database system, ensuring integration, connection, and communication with the national database and real-time sharing; integrating with the geographic information system (GIS) to build environmental quality maps, announce, publicize to the community and deploy them to a number of large cities (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, etc.).

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/quoc-hoi-yeu-cau-cap-bach-ngan-chan-o-nhiem-khong-khi-o-ha-noi-tp-hcm-ar992101.html