VietNamNet Bridge – The HCM City People’s Committee has assigned the city’s police and relevant branches to draft the document stipulating the minimum requirements motorbikes must have to be eligible for being put into circulation.

Old motorbikes – the culprit that causes pollution

The HCM City Police has been assigned to draft the regulations on the maximum usage time for motorcycles and tricycles.

Lieutenant Colonel Tran Thanh Tra said on Tuoi tre that there have been the regulations on the maximum usage time for trucks and passenger cars, and it’s now the time to set up similar regulations for motorbikes.

The HCM City local authorities have been many times warned about the existence of the too old and under-conditioned motorbikes, which have caused accidents and environment pollution. Meanwhile, the police cannot seize the old machines with high latent risks, because there has been no regulation about the limit on the motorbike usage time.

According to Dr Pham Xuan Mai from the HCM City University of Technology, there are two big problems in an old motorbike. The motorbike parts would get damaged and cannot ensure safety for drivers. Besides, the motorbikes with high mileages would produce smoke and cause noise pollution.

Mai said that it would be better not to set up regulations based on the number of years a motorbike has been in use, but on the mileage. The principle has been applied in many other countries already.

Regarding the plan by the HCM City authorities, Deputy Minister of Transport Le Manh Hung said the ministry is also considering the issue.

Hung said there are about 34 million motorbikes in Vietnam, including a big amount of old motorbikes. However, it is still necessary to think about this carefully, because poor people use motorbikes as the means to earn their living.

According to Cong An TP HCM newspaper, Cho Lon Market area is the place where most of old motorcycles and tricycles are operating. Most of the tattered vehicles, with no mirror and lamp, have been used to carry cargoes.

Meanwhile, Trinh Ngoc Giao, Head of the Vietnam Register Agency, said the Ministry of Transport is building up a plan to implement the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 909 on motorbike and car emission control, suggesting different measures to deal with the environment pollution for the most seriously polluted areas.

Giao believes that with the method on emission control, the poor people still can run motorbikes in rural areas and remote areas instead of throwing old motorbikes away, which help them save money.

Duong Hong Thanh, Deputy Director of the HCM City Transport Department, also said that it’s most important to control the emission which causes the environment pollution, not to set up the maximum usage time.

Thanh said that this would ensure the fairness for motorbike users. The people who have ancient motorbikes, still can drive the motorbikes on streets, if their machines can meet the emission standards.

Still in debate

Though analysts agree that it is necessary to set up requirements on the motorbikes in circulation, they have warned that it’s now not the right time to promulgate such a regulation, because this may push the poor people against the wall, because they would have no more tool to earn their living.

Nguyen Cam Tuong, who has been working as a taxi motorbike driver for the last 20 years, said that the durability of machines much depends on the quality of products, the designs of manufacturers, and on the maintenance.

Pointing to the motorbike with South Korean brand Citi, he said he has been driving it since 1998, while there has been no problem with it.

C. V