VietNamNet Bridge - Urban noise is proving a major headache for residents, and responsible agencies have not found strict enough measures to deal with noise pollution.

Nguyen Thi Loan, living in District 2 in HCM City, lamented that her family could not sleep until midnight because of the loud noise from the bar next door.

Her house walls have a number of cracks, and she believed that they were caused by the noise.

"My four-year-old son often cries at midnight because he is afraid of the loud noise," she said.

Meanwhile, residents living near the 218 Dien Bien Phu building site have had to live with the deafening construction noise.

Despite shutting all their doors and windows there is no escape from the noise.

Tran Ngoc Anh, one of the local residents, said the construction site regularly worked 22 hours a day.

"They should have a proper working schedule so we can just have a little quiet," she said.

Suffering from headaches and stress because of noise, many residents have taken legal measures to sue the constructor, but nothing seems to have changed.

Thai Thi Phi Hong, from District 6, said her family was tortured by the loud noise from the nearby mechanical workshops, and over the past four years she had submitted many petitions to the Ward 13 People's Committee.

"The workshops were asked to temporarily stop their work, but then they just started again, and now we're thinking about moving," she said.

According to surveys in November last year by the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment's Environment Protection Division, the level of noise in the city was between 66-85 decibels (dB) whereas the permissible level of noise is below 70 dB.

Decision 117, which regulates punishments for environmental protection violation, issued in 2009, said that noise violators would be fined VND2-100 million (US$100-5,000) and have their business licences withdrawn.

However, associate professor Nguyen Dinh Tuan, deputy principal of the HCM City Natural Resources and Environment College, said the decision did not have enough detailed regulations to handle the problem.

Director of the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment Dao Anh Kiet said that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment had issued national technical regulations on noise pollution, which will be put into effect on February 15.

Under the regulation, the level of noise in hospitals, libraries and schools from 6am to 9pm should be no louder than 55dB, and from 9pm to 6am no more than 45dB.

In residential quarters, houses, hotels and administrative offices, the level of noise should be no more than 70dB from 6am to 9pm, and no more than 55dB from 9pm to 6am.

"The administrative fine regulated in Decision 117 is strict enough, and we will employ more inspectors dedicated to noise control," he said.

In previous years, inspectors only paid attention to check water and air pollution.

"Residents can call a hotline on 1800588875, which is available 24/7 to inform authorities about noise pollution," he said.

Source: VNS