Worrying figures
Information at the seminar "Converting gasoline motorbikes in the inner city: For a green Hanoi" on July 18, Mr. Dao Viet Long - Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Construction said that Hanoi currently has over 9.2 million vehicles of all kinds operating.
Of which, the city is managing more than 8 million vehicles, including 1.1 million cars and over 6.9 million motorbikes, about 1.2 million cars and personal motorbikes from other provinces and cities circulating in the area. The growth rate of Hanoi's vehicles is about 4-5%/year, 11 to 17 times the speed of road expansion.
Mr. Dao Viet Long said that out of a total of 6.9 million motorbikes in the city and approximately 1.5 million motorbikes from other provinces regularly operating in the area, up to 70% of motorbikes in circulation are used vehicles.
Statistical studies have clearly shown that motorbikes are the main source of emissions in urban areas. Specifically, motorbikes cause 94% of hydrocarbon (HC), 87% of CO, 57% of NOx and 33% of PM10 fine dust from traffic.
This is an alarming figure. The above analysis results show that the main source of air pollution in Hanoi is emissions from road vehicles, which according to statistics account for 58-74% depending on the time, said Mr. Long.
From the above analysis, the leader of the Department of Construction said that continuing to use millions of old motorbikes not only affects Hanoi's environment, but also reduces air quality, directly affects people's health, not to mention the risk of traffic accidents.
This is an important basis for Hanoi to promote the low-emission zone policy and convert to green means of transport in the coming time.
Experts also say that replacing old cars with electric cars or standard cars can help reduce CO and HC emissions by 35-40%, while improving air quality and saving energy.
Harmonizing rights and responsibilities between parties
In response to the above urgent requirements, on July 12, the Prime Minister issued Directive No. 20/CT-TTg on a number of urgent tasks and solutions to protect the environment and improve air quality in large cities.
The Prime Minister requested Hanoi City to implement solutions and measures for organizations and individuals to change vehicles and routes, by July 1, 2026, there will be no motorbikes or mopeds using fossil fuels circulating in Ring Road 1 and implement the following routes.
Mr. Nguyen Anh Quan - Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Environment (DONRE) said that in the past 2 years, monitoring results showed that the level of air pollution in Hanoi due to vehicles using fossil fuels accounting for over 50%. This is a "hot" problem in Hanoi that Directive 20 has required to be resolved.
Receiving Directive 20 of the Prime Minister, Hanoi immediately issued a document assigning the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development as the presiding agency to work with relevant departments and branches to develop a specific plan, set out criteria, solutions, roadmaps, and appropriate policies.
According to Mr. Quan, this draft plan is basically complete and is in the process of seeking opinions from relevant departments and branches, expected to be submitted to the city before July 25.
During the process of drafting the plan, Mr. Quan said that Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh and the city leaders were very interested in and closely directed to study appropriate policies. Hanoi City is very eager to have harmony between the rights and responsibilities of people, businesses and the State.
"We believe that with the policies of the State and of enterprises... it will create motivation and momentum for the city to fulfill the request assigned by the Prime Minister that from July 1, 2026, in the Ring Road 1, there will be no motorbikes or motorbikes using fossil fuels (vehicles running on gasoline, oil) circulating in Ring Road", Mr. Quan commented.
