Since air pollution in major Vietnamese cities is getting worse and has become an urgent problem in recent years, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc recently issued a new directive to urge ministries and sectors to cooperate and take immediate actions on enhancing air quality management.

The Directive on Strengthening Air Pollution Control was issued in January. Accordingly, relevant Ministries and the People’s Committee of provinces and centrally controlled municipalities need to focus on accelerating the implementation of air quality management programs and tasks in accordance with Prime Minister Decision No. 985a/QD-TTg, June 1, 2016 approving the National Action Plan on Air Quality Management to 2020 with a vision to 2025 (Decision No. 985).

The Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) to organize the assessment of the results of implementation of Decision No. 985a, to propose air quality management plans for the period 2021 to 2025, and to report the results to the Prime Minister.

Within MONRE, the Agency in charge is the Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA). The VEA now considers to set up an interdisciplinary group, to work primarily with big cities which are major polluters. Emphasis shall be placed on reviewing and completing a system of national standards and regulations on the environmental impact of industrial emissions, average air quality in comparison with air quality standards of developed countries, and transport emissions.

Towards this end, the Ministry of Transport is requested to urgently develop a national programme towards environmentally friendly public transport systems, and to implement roadmaps for the application of national technical regulations on vehicles to improve emission reductions.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade is responsible for strengthening control over high-risk waste from projects and factories.
The Ministry of Construction shall guide and inspect the implementation of regulations and measures on dust and emission control in construction activities, urban planning, ensuring the proportion of trees and water surfaces in urban areas reach the requirements of relevant standards and regulations.
Other relevant Ministries are also requested to propose and implement significant solutions in response to this problem.

According to the VEA, within this year, regulations on environmental monitoring will be completed, and the definition of national technical standards on vehicle emissions will be achieved.