The eastern gate to the city centre is among the worst traffic hotspots in Ho Chi Minh City with thousands of vehicles passing by every day.

Constant congestions keep belching out dense smoke over the streets.

Le Van Ngoc Anh, a local resident in Thu Duc district, Ho Chi Minh City said "The air is so polluted that I feel it hard to breathe without a gauze mask. It’s very dangerous to our health."

Greenhouse gas is a compound of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide v.v… It acts as a thermal blanket, which traps heat within the Earth’s atmosphere, or in other words, it causes global warming.

For Ho Chi Minh City, emissions from traffic activities account for 45% while some 46% come from industrial production and construction.

" Greenhouse gas is emitted as vehicles run on fossil fuels. So we can address the situation in various ways. We can turn to green energy. As you may know we start selling E5 bio-fuel nationwide next year", Duong Pham Hung from Van Lang University of Ho Chi Minh City said. He also added that "vehicles manufacturing technology should be innovated towards boosting fuel consumption efficiency. Switching from personal vehicles to public transports is also a good idea too."

Scientific research has revealed an ugly truth that the southern city contributes 20% to the total greenhouse gas emissions of the whole country while its population makes up only 9%.

As calculated, 13 million people residing in the city now own up to 9 million vehicles with 80% being motorcycles.

A recent survey indicates that the city’s emissions are equivalent to New Zealand’s and nearly a half of Tokyo’s. Also, although its economy is less developed than big cities around the globe, such as Seoul, London, and Buenos Aires, its emissions per capita are no less than them.

These facts have ringed alarm bells over the environmental issue in Ho Chi Minh City.-VNA