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Hanoi is planning to install an additional 70 air monitoring stations to the current 10 that are currently operating in the capital, a local official said on Tuesday.
The current stations do not reflect the actual air quality in the city, according to Nguyen Trong Dong, director of the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment. The 70 new stations will help to improve Hanoi’s ability to monitor the environment, he added.
Air quality readings show that the levels of dust pollution in some districts such as Hoang Mai, Ha Dong, Cau Giay and Tu Liem have surpassed permitted levels on several days this year. Pollution levels are also high around craft villages, and the concentration of benzene across Hanoi has increased due to rising number of vehicles on the road.
According to Dong, increased construction work, migration to the city and vehicles have caused air and noise pollution to rise. There are more than 5 million motorbikes on Hanoi’s roads and 19,000 new vehicles are registered each month.
Hanoi started publishing information about air quality at the beginning of this year, and the city plans to have 359 monitoring stations in place by 2020.
