Hanoi is determined to protect environment

As challenges of environmental pollution are growing, the Hanoi government is working out solutions and finding resources to deal with them, Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung said at a meeting on December 18.

According to the Hanoi People’s Committee’s report, mechanisms and policies on natural resource management and environmental protection is in the making, capacities of personnel on management, inspection on environmental protection have been enhanced.

So far, the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DoNRE) has dispatched four inspection teams to 22 production facilities and a number of investment projects in the capital city to verify their compliance with environmental regulations.

Besides, the DoNRE has reviewed, classified and assessed pollution level in the black spots to propose solutions.

Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung said at a meeting on December 18.

Not only focusing on improving management, Hanoi has also implemented many specific and practical solutions. Currently, the city has completed research and installation proposal of a network of air monitoring in the city that comprises of 34 to 37 observation stations. Ten automated air-monitoring stations have been put into operation. Their results have been made public on the media so that people could monitor the daily air quality in the capital.

Notably, Hanoi has implemented the program of planting a million trees. Since 2016, 844,000 trees have been planted, reaching 84.4% of the target.

Under the project of "Strengthening management of vehicles to reduce traffic congestion and environmental pollution in Hanoi from 2017 to 2020, with vision to 2030", the city has also deployed six solution groups with 45 measures implemented in three phases, preparing the necessary conditions for banning motorbikes in the inner-city districts by 2030.

In addition, Hanoi has focused on transportation development with a focus on encouraging residents to use public transport and limiting the use of private vehicles.

Proceeding with environmental protection measures

At the meeting on measures to fight air pollution, the Hanoi mayor instructed relevant bodies to take drastic solutions to reduce air pollution, including:

Banning the incineration of waste and rice straw and honeycomb coal by 2020. The mayor assigned the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to study converting straw to fertilizer.

Besides, Chung asked the city’s bodies to continue the program of planting one million trees. The Department of Transport is tasked with working with the Ministry of Transport on controlling air pollution caused by vehicles and disposal of obsolete vehicles, among others.

According to the mayor, Hanoi is trying to speed up developing software to collect people’s feedback on waste and environment issues, classify them and refer to the competent authorities to handle.