Vietnam Biggest City Warned of Rising Air Pollution

Vietnam’s southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City is facing increasing air pollution as smoke, dust and noise pollution levels are much beyond the permitted levels, experts warned. Recent statistics made by six environment monitoring stations in the city showed that smoke emissions are the highest pollutants with an average content of soot to be around 0.36-0.63mg. They attributed the main reason to dense road traffic activities. The high concentration of soot in the air is the highest at An Suong crossroad, where it exceeds the standards by 2-5 times. Nitrogen dioxide levels are also higher than the permissible limits at around 0.15-0.26mg, while carbon monoxide is the only norm showing an acceptable level. Noise pollution still remains unabated with 100% of the monitoring results showing levels to be beyond the tolerable limits. The municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment said its air pollution is mainly caused by industrial production. However, smoke and exhaust fumes are discharged through chimneys to higher atmospheric levels, as a result local residents could not feel the immediate effects. Environmentalists noted though exhaust fumes from traffic is less than from industrial production, it is the worst factor harming people’s health because it is released at the lowest atmospheric level and usually in crowded residential areas. HCM City is estimated to lose over $50 million from air pollution annually, including the treatment of respiratory diseases related to air pollution and losses caused by other factors like workers being absent from work to take care of sick family members. Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi is also facing serious air quality degradation, posing a great threat to the locals’ health. It is estimated to lose around $20 million from air pollution per year. (Sai Gon Giai Phong –Saigon Liberation Feb 13)