VietNamNet Bridge - Admitting that the air in Hanoi has been polluted for a long time, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE) said the pollution level in Hanoi must not reach levels as high as in Beijing.

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Mr Hoang Duong Tung

Aqicn.org, the website which provides real-time figures about the air pollution levels in cities all over the world, showed that the PM2.5 Index (the fine dust particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter) in the air in Hanoi in the last two days reached 388 microgram per cubic meter at maximum and 114 microgram per cubic meter at minimum.

Vietnam’s PM2.5 national standard is 50 microgram per cubic meter. Meanwhile, the level recommended by WHO is 25 micrograms.

This means that the dust concentration in the air in Hanoi in the last days was higher than the allowed level by 2-8 times.

At 2 pm of February 3, the PM2.5 Index in Hanoi was measured at 166 microgram per cubic meter, or 3 times higher than allowed.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE) said the pollution level in Hanoi must not reach levels as high as in Beijing.
In principle, when the index exceeds the 300 microgram threshold, it is considered dangerous, while people are advised to stay at home, and over 100 microgram will be harmful to people’s health.

The website stated that the figure about the air quality in Hanoi was provided by the US Embassy in Hanoi and the MONRE’s Environment Monitoring Center. The monitoring stations are set up at the embassy and the UN International School.

Meanwhile, the website showed that the PM2.5 index in Beijing was 119-298 microgram per cubic meter.

At 2 pm on February 3, the index was at 174, just a little bit higher than in Hanoi.

Meanwhile, the 2013 Vietnam’s National Environment Report released showed that the PM2.5 index in Hanoi was over 100 microgram at maximum and less than 20 microgram at minimum.

The air pollution in Hanoi is believed to be caused by the traffic and construction. According to MONRE, Hanoi is a ‘great construction site’ with over 1,000 construction works under execution. 

Hanoi also has millions of motorbikes on the roads and 147 out of 400 production workshops that discharge waste and cause air pollution. 

However, Hoang Duong Tung from MONRE denied that Hanoi is more polluted than Beijing.

According to Tung, the AQI (air quality index) updated on the website shows the average figure. The PM2.5 at over 300 was just the index for a certain moment of the day.

“It is unreasonable to compare the average index with the index at some certain moments and conclude that Hanoi is more polluted than Beijing,” he said.

“The average PM2.5 index in Hanoi is just 1.2-1.5 times higher than the standard level,” he said.


Le Van