The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has asked the authorities in Hanoi and HCM City to recall and destroy vehicles that no longer meet standards and cause pollution.

Air pollution in Hanoi has worsened recently.

According to the ministry, air pollution in the urban areas, especially in Hanoi and HCM City, has recently worsened. It is badly affecting public health as well as economic development. The main causes of the pollution are on-going constructions, industrial activities, bad weather and the large number of vehicles on road.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has asked the authorities in Hanoi and HCM City to speed up the installation of air quality monitoring systems and regularly update the information about air quality. It is important to develop a comprehensive public transportation system and clean energy in Hanoi and HCM City.

The authorities in Hanoi and HCM City were asked to recall and ban old vehicles from to encourage citizens to use more public transport and environmentally-friendly means of transport

More importantly, the authorities of both cities must plan to ease congestion and water the streets more frequently to control the dust, especially when the weather is dry.

According to the ministry, there should be support policies for small household businesses to prevent them from using honeycomb charcoal, and tighter management and monitoring over industrial zones, especially facilities that are required to install automatic emission monitoring stations.

The ministry then asked to increase the monitoring frequency and publicise the results on the websites of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and local authorities across the country. If air pollution turns for the worse and will badly affect the health of the citizens then the related agencies must raise timely warnings.

Communal and district authorities must raise public awareness on the problems and prevent them from burning solid waste or straw after harvests. They must also detect pollution sources in the area, have suitable solutions and publicise information about violators that cause air pollution.