HCMC to hose dust off 30 main roads

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee requested the Department of Transport and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Thursday to work with local authorities to study and determine the scale of the hosing operation. The budget for this operation would depend on the management of urban solid waste in the area, the committee said.

HCMC currently has over 30 main roads with a total length of more than 260 km that are cleaned by specialized vehicles that sweep and suck dust. Before 2017, the city used to spray water on the road to reduce dust, but this method has not been used for several years now.

Several major roads including the National Highways 1 and 22, the Hanoi Highway and the Cong Hoa Road experience high traffic density including a large number of vehicles carrying construction materials. Hosing the roads down could prove an effective solution to the dust and pollution, the committee said.

Environmental studies have pointed out that the main causes of air pollution in cities include traffic, industrial and construction activities. Of these, traffic continued to be a major issue with the city having over 8.4 million vehicles, including 819,000 cars and 7.6 million motorbikes. Every day, there are 79 cars and 309 motorbikes newly registered in the city, according to official data.