VietNamNet Bridge – Capital city residents are being forced to suffer impacts from huge volumes of dust released by construction- site lorries that fall through regulatory cracks.

Dust from uncovered lorries carrying construction material cause heavy pollution in cities.

Drivers, pedestrians and homes located on both sides of the streets suffer the consequences of this environmental problem. Students waiting for busses to carry them to school also suffer from the high dust level.

Construction of the Ha Noi Landmark Tower, believed to become the tallest building in Viet Nam with a height of 336m, has been underway for several months. A huge volume of sand has been transported from the site and has caused an increase in air pollution in the surrounding area.

A resident of My Dinh Commune close to the site said she and her son often breathe in more dust than oxygen when they pass the construction site to return home.

“Dust flies into our eyes even though we wear masks and glasses,” she said.

Giant piles of soil from construction projects on Khuat Duy Tien Street have been left on both sides of the street.

Another local resident on Pham Hung Street says that dust covers the inside of her house even though she closes the doors during the day.

“There are many construction projects in the works in the area, many of which have a planned duration of five years. We will be living with dust throughout the years,” she said. Clean-up trucks spray water along the streets every morning to keep the dust-clouds down, but large piles of soil typically return to flood the streets by noon.

“Only 30 minutes after spraying, lorries pour soil and sand onto the streets,” worker Tran Thi Mai said.

Thach Nhu Sy, head inspector of Ha Noi Transport Department says punishments are difficult to impose on violators because project developers and drivers shift the blame onto each other.

He says that department inspectors have no authority to stop and punish violators because to do so there would need to be inter-sectoral co-ordination between environmental inspectors, police and local authorities, which currently does not exist.

An environmental officer in Ha Noi indicates there are two causes of air pollution at construction sites that are difficult to tackle. First, lorries and tipper trucks do not cover their loads before moving in or out of the construction sites. Second, construction sites themselves are not covered to prevent dust from flying into the air.

Hoang Duc Dung, a health department official says that air pollution from city construction sites is a serious problem because hundreds of people are suffering from damaging consequences.

(Source: Viet Nam News)