According to the HCM City Transport Department, the agency is going to report to the municipal authorities about the need to control motorbike emissions in the city as a measure to ease air pollution.

In the latest news, the transport department had a working session with Honda Vietnam and the Vietnam Association of Motorbike Manufacturers (VAMM) to discuss a plan to control motorbike emissions in the city. It is necessary to build up plans to survey and examine emissions at in some places, such as motorbike maintenance agents. The parties also discussed the time, form and examination method.

Director of the HCM City Transport Department Tran Quang Lam said the detailed implementation plan would be submitted by the department to the municipal authorities in November.

According to the HCM City Transport Department, the agency is going to report to the municipal authorities about the need to control motorbike emissions in the city as a measure to ease air pollution.

The plan aims to assess people’s willingness to restrict emissions, and encourage people to repair motorbikes and replace motorbike parts, or shift to using vehicles with higher emission standards.

After six months of implementation, the transport department will create a detailed official roadmap for motorbike emission control in HCM City.

“With the rapid increase in number of motorbikes and the increased pollution, the plan on controlling emissions needs to be implemented soon,” he said, adding that it is necessary to develop public transport at the same time.

HCM City is implementing a series of important programs for the city’s soico-economic development. Of these, the transport department has the task of finding solutions to reduce 70 percent of emissions in the transport sector.

The department is considering the collection of fee on cars entering the central areas of the city. It is also considering promoting passenger public transport while controlling private vehicles.

Commenting about the solutions put forward by the transport department, urban development experts said it is critically important to control emissions from motorbikes.

However, they affirmed that it is necessary to ensure the strict enforcement of regulations. This means that the officers who ignore violations must be strictly punished. In many cases, because of weak enforcement, many good laws remain ineffective.

Many motorbikes in a very bad state – no lamp, no rearview mirror and no brake -- remain on the road.

A report showed that by mid-August 2019, HCM City had 7.1 million motorbikes.

Auir pollution caused by motorbikes is more dangerous than emissions from cars. 

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