Hanoi is promptly taking actions to improve air quality which has been seriously polluted over the past two weeks, Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung said at meeting on October 1.Chung cited statistics of the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment showing that since September 13, the local air quality at many points at during the day has been “very bad”.
Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung speaks at the meeting. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn
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PM2.5 particle concentration increases and maintains at high level especially at night and early in the morning (AQI> 100), sometimes even reaches bad level (AQI> 200). In the mornings from September 25 to October 1, it was reported that at some AQI monitoring stations, the PM2.5 concentration exceeded 200, a bad level.
In addition to objective causes, Nguyen Duc Chung frankly pointed out that subjective factors causing air pollution in the city, such as delay in the relocation of polluting production facilities and construction of monitoring stations, slow pollution assessment and solutions, among others.
In recent years, the city has installed more than ten air quality monitoring stations and eight water quality monitoring ones, Chung said, adding that the data on air quality from the monitoring stations are updated daily on the mass media for the people’s knowledge.
To deal with this situation, Chung said Hanoi has been taking prompt actions such as installing more monitoring stations, controlling polluting sources, and discouraging locals from using coal burning stoves.
Besides, the city is also promoting the use of machinery to collect waste and clean dust instead of doing manually, dealing with lake pollution, and building waste-to-energy plants, using new technology to treat solid waste, regularly inspecting trucks transporting construction materials, raising public awareness on environment preservation, among others, Chung added.
Head of the Office of the Hanoi People's Committee Vu Dang Dinh speaks at the press meeting. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn
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Dinh stressed that Hanoi’s authorities are set to step up communications to raise public awareness of air quality, implement more tree planting programs, and dissuade farmers from the long-standing practice of burning straw.
They will also enhance the management of road vehicles to reduce traffic congestion and pollution, while promoting the use of public transport, the official added.
It is forecast that Hanoi will receive rains on October 3, thus air quality will be improved, according to the Agency of Environmental Protection under the Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
