The HCMC Department of Transport will devise a scheme to control emissions from motorbikes if the municipal government gives the agency the green light, reported Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper.

As of mid-2018, the city was home to more than 7.6 million scooters and motorbikes, making up a whopping 95% of individual vehicles in use while automobiles accounting for the balance, according to the department.

These two-wheeled vehicles consume some 56% of gasoline but discharge around 94% of hydrocarbon gas and some 87% of carbon monoxide among other things, compared with the total emissions from all motor vehicles using either gasoline or diesel.

The department stated that the emissions from these vehicles cause serious pollution and are more harmful to human health than those produced by cars.

Besides this, the agency remarked that the number of motorbikes has been rapidly increasing, and vehicles that have been used for many years have seen the quality of their emission control gradually declining. As such, the environmental pollution in the city is becoming more severe.

According to the transport department, domestically produced or assembled vehicles and imported vehicles are under emissions control upon manufacturing, but those already in use have yet to be subject to regulation on emissions.

Eight years ago, the central Government approved a scheme for controlling motorbike emissions. Its key measures included carrying out emission inspections at testing facilities, and patrolling and checking vehicles on the street. However, the scheme has not yet been executed, owing to objection by residents and legal obstacles.

Pending revisions to the Law on Road Traffic, the department will seek in-principle approval from the municipal People’s Committee to hire a competent and experienced consulting agency to set up a motorbike emissions scheme. The rent will amount to an estimated VND2.4 billion (US$102,800).

Tran Quang Lam, deputy director of the HCMC Transport Department, was quoted by Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper as saying that as part of the city’s breakthrough program to reduce environmental pollution, his agency had been tasked with minimizing 70% of gas emissions from transport activities.

The department is also responsible for making plans to ease traffic congestion and accidents in the 2016-2020 period. Therefore, according to Lam, the municipal government has asked the department to develop a road map to curb vehicle emissions in line with environmental pollution reduction targets.

He revealed that the scheme is expected to include a set of local criteria for motorbike emissions, as well as mechanisms, policies and execution stages. Old scooters and motorbikes that generate severe pollution could be confiscated.

Saigon Times