Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked theMinistry of Transport to work with localities to take old motor vehicles thatdo not meet circulation standards off the roads.

Exhaustemissions from old and raggedy motorbikes have been blamed as one of the causesof air pollution and safety risks in big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi MinhCity.

Datafrom the Hanoi People's Committee shows there are more than 5.7 millionmotorcycles in use in the city, nearly half of which are old motorcyclesmanufactured before the year 2000.

Thereare more than 730,000 cars and many vehicles from other provinces thatregularly travel into the city, causing a great deal of pollution.

Motorbikesalso account for 80-90 percent of the total carbon monoxide and highhydrocarbon and 50 percent of the total nitrogen oxide emitted from all roadmotor vehicles.

Oldmotor vehicles emit much greater levels of toxic gases than those that aremaintained periodically.

Thesepollutants greatly affect the quality of the urban air environmentand directly affect people's health.

In2010, then Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung issued a project to control motorcycleemissions in cities across the country.

FromSeptember 2020, Hanoi has also implemented a pilot project on emissionmeasurement and support.

Underthis programme, the owners of motorbikes more than 18 years old that do notmeet emission standards can claim from 2-4 million VND to buy a newvehicle.

Thisfunding will be provided by the Vietnam Motorcycle Manufacturers Association.

Butso far it has not been implemented since such a move requires some social costsand administrative procedures that are not specified in the law, according tothe Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

Accordingto traffic experts, gas emission checks for motorbikes are necessary butneed a specific roadmap.

NguyenVan Phuong, deputy head of Motor Vehicle Quality Division under the VietnamRegister, said the Government has only issued regulations on periodicinspections for cars but not motorbikes. The country also lacks regulationsstipulating the maximum lifespan of motorcycles.

Therefore,there are no specific statistics on the state of old motorbikes across thecountry, Phuong told Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper.

Recovering oldmotorbikes is not easy because it is the property of the people, so it isnecessary to build a complete legal corridor, according to Phuong.

Inmany countries, motorbikes are managed by technical requirements andtariffs on old motorcycles are very high, experts said.

Vietnamshould also control outdated vehicles through emissions inspection, they said.

Alongwith that, the Government and manufacturers need to offer financial mechanismsand policies to support vehicle owners./.