Hanoi mayor Nguyen Duc Chung has asked local bodies to bring back water trucks to wash the streets with a view to reducing air pollution nearly three years after their suspension, VnExpress reported.

Experts have accused coal-fired power plants of causing air pollution in Hanoi, noting that they are emitting fine dust during operations. But operators of such plants have rejected the claim, according to local media.

As air pollution in big cities passes far beyond acceptable limits, the interest in electric vehicles is rising. 

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has been assigned to look for solutions for environmental problem especially air pollution.

Gas emissions from vehicles, exhaust from factories and industries and air pollutants from construction sites were identified as the three main causes of the deteriorating air quality in HCMC and Hanoi at an urgent meeting on air pollution yesterday.

Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung has called for a range of measures to ease the current severe air pollution.

The image of honeycomb charcoal stoves is common on many streets in Hanoi, from big streets to narrow alleys. However, it is the "silent assassin" that pollutes the air and seriously affects human health.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has written to the Government Office and the relevant ministries and agencies, inviting them to a meeting to seek solutions to the air pollution in large cities, especially Hanoi and HCMC.

That is a question posed by experts in the context of the high air pollution concentration in Vietnam.

Residents in the capital city are showing their mounting concern about the poor quality of air that has hit the capital over the past few days.

As air pollution in the capital city of Hanoi has reached alarming levels over the past week, the Ministry of Health has issued scores of recommendations for residents to alleviate the effects of poor air quality on their health.

The HCM City Department of Natural Resources and Environment has proposed local authorities to raise the frequency of air monitoring.

Independent air quality tracker AirVisual reported a higher index in some areas in Hanoi at 198 early on Monday.

Many people in Hanoi are buying air purifiers to cope with rising air pollution.

The air quality in the last six days of November was poor, with the index exceeding the permitted levels.

Experts think that HCM City authorities need to apply a special policy under Resolution 54 to amend existing policies to better manage quality of the air.

Authorities in provinces and cities around the country should co-operate with sensor manufacturers, data management companies and scientists to make plans to monitor air pollution.

Secretary of the Hanoi municipal Party Committee Hoang Trung Hai announced Hanoi will be more determined in environmental management especially controlling wastewater discharge and construction sites in the capital city.

If Vietnam stops investments in new coal-fired thermopower projects, the total amount of coal it would consume could drop by 221 million tons by 2050.

The HCMC Department of Transport will cooperate with the Vietnam Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers to monitor motorcycle emissions in districts 1, 3 and Binh Thanh from February to November next year.