Statistics of the Road and Railway Traffic Division under the HCMC Police Department showed that as of early March, the city had nearly 7.5 million motorcycles and over 677,000 autos. 

Since emission from such a large number of vehicles is a main source of air pollution, the exhaust emission inspection has been considered one of the urgent measures to handle environmental pollution in the city.

A representative of the HCMC Department of Transport attributed unsuitable criteria for checks on motorcycles’ emission to the delayed implementation.

Circular 70 on technical inspections and traffic environment protection regulates a low emission standard which is applicable to autos circulating on the street while a more stringent exhaust emission standard regulation, according to Decision 49/2011, was set to apply to new vehicles, the representative explained.

To tackle the problem, the Ministry of Transport earlier set up a road map and three solutions to impose compulsory checks on motorcycles’ exhaust emission.

Vietnam Register suggested checking motorcycles of more than 15 years old in the initial period and implementing the inspections once every two years in big cities such as Hanoi, HCMC, Hai Phong, Danang and Can Tho cities.

Such a well-planned roadmap and solutions, though, have yet been taken.

SGT