Next year, residents in 19 cities across Vietnam will have up-to-the-minute air quality readings, according to the central government.
Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung called upon the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) as well as the Ministry of Information and Communications to publicize air quality information for selected Vietnamese cities in 2017, reports VnExpress.
Under the National Action Plan for Air Quality Management, air quality monitoring information will be available in Hanoi, Saigon, Da Nang, Hai Phong and Can Tho as well as 14 other cities which see tourists, such as Da Lat, Nha Trang, Hue and Ha Long.
The central government also called upon the MoNRE to increase the number of air quality monitoring stations in the above-mentioned cities by 2020. Currently, few Vietnamese cities have air quality monitoring systems; in Saigon, monitoring equipment exists however it is outdated and often in disrepair.
Moving forward, MoNRE will also collaborate with the Ministry of Information and Communications to disseminate information to the public regarding the dangers of poor air quality.
As urban Vietnam continues to develop, air quality has become a growing concern among residents and health experts, particularly in the past year as air quality index (AQI) levels in Hanoi reached hazardous levels.
Though the country's southern and northern hubs both have regular AQI readings thanks to the United States Embassy in Hanoi and the United States Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, these readings come from only one location in either city. The new system would allow urbanites to see more accurate readings of the air quality nearest them.
