An individual carries bulky goods on an aging motorcycle. HCMC plans to examine emissions from motorcycles on a trial basis this month - PHOTO: TIEN PHONG

The HCMC Department of Transport has received the green light from the municipal government to team up with the Vietnam Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers and the Institute of Transport Science and Technology to launch a program to study and evaluate motorcycle emissions in the city, to improve the air quality.

Besides this, the municipal departments of Information and Communications and of Natural Resources and Environment as well as the government of District 1 were asked to help the transport department execute the program and spread awareness.

According to the transport department, increasingly heavy traffic congestion, air and noise pollution triggered by transport activities and the soaring number of vehicles that emit pollutants have provoked concern among local residents and negatively affected their health.

Data from the transport department showed that over 8.1 million motorcycles were active in the city by mid-2019, almost 10 times higher than the number of cars and accounting for some 90% of the city’s total number of vehicles.

Also, motorcycles were among the main causes of the city’s deteriorating air quality as they have only had to comply with the EURO 2 vehicle emissions standards for decades.

A lot of motorbikes that are old, unsafe for travelling and unfriendly to the environment still remain in use throughout the city.

However, the city, as well as other localities, cannot impose sanctions on old motorcycles due to the lack of regulations on vehicle emissions standards and monitoring bike emissions.

Accordingly, the new program is expected to gradually achieve cooperation from locals as they come to understand the necessity of vehicle emissions inspections, stated a transport department representative. SGT