Hanoi will roll out action programmes and plans to improve air quality in the city based on the outcomes of a French-funded air quality assessment project, said a municipal leader. 

Hanoi will roll out action programmes and plans to improve air quality in the city

Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung made the statement at a reception for French Ambassador to Vietnam Bertrand Lortholary, Director of Airparif Frederic Bouvier, and Director of the French Development Agency (AFD) in Vietnam Fabrice Richy in Hanoi on October 17. 

During the meeting, the two sides reviewed the one-year-old project, under which air monitoring stations were set up in Hanoi.

Chung called on Airparif, an agency in charge of monitoring air quality in Ile-de-France, to improve the quality of the monitoring stations, while publicising air quality assessments. 

In September, Green Innovation and Development Centre (GreenID), a Hanoi-based NGO, released a report on air quality in Vietnam in the first half of this year. It compared air quality in 2017’s first six months and in the same period of 2016.

Based on the report, from January to June, Hanoi suffered 139 days of excessive PM2.5 level, according to international standards.

PM, or particulate matter, is a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets in the air. PM2.5 particulates are about a thirtieth as thick as the width of a human hair and can pass through lung tissue and into the blood, harming human health.

The data showed no relation between the concentration of pollutants and peak traffic hours, meaning air quality has been affected by different pollution sources, notably the energy industry.

Nguyen Thi Anh Thu, GreenID’s environment expert, said that though the air quality has improved, millions of Hanoians rarely enjoyed fresh air.

The Hanoi People’s Committee in January launched an online service with information about weather conditions and environment indexes, including air quality index, rainfall and flooding.

VNA