More trees, less rubbish to make city clean, green

HCM CITY— The city People’s Committee said it wants to make the city’s environment more beautiful and healthy by planting more trees and improving rubbish collection services.

Relevant authorities should plant more roadside trees and reserve more areas for parks, the committee said, adding unsuitable trees should be removed. It also encouraged residents and enterprises to plant more trees.

They said authorities should also find ways to reduce outdoor wall space available for illegal ad postings.

The city Department of Transport should co-operate with relevant agencies in the city’s districts to choose up to 10 roads to carry out greenspace pavement projects. Worn out pavements in central districts should be upgraded.

The city Department of Transport’s report showed the area of green space per person in the city had halved in the last five years to 0.75sq.m now from 1.6sq.m in 2005. The city currently has nearly 538 hectares of parkland.

Dr. Tran Viet My, head of the city Agriculture Promotion Centre, said that if the number of residents in the city’s inner districts this year reaches 3 million, more than 1 million tonnes of CO2, 2,500 tonnes of dust and 160, 000 tonnes of poisonous gas would be emitted.

My said, living in HCM City was a health risk because everyone needs 25sq.m of green space to absorb emissions.

Nguyen Thi Hien Luong, deputy director of the Department of Transport, blamed the spiraling population and city planners’ disregard for the provision of greenspace for the problem. Some district officials said it was from a lack of professional understanding.

Clean sweep

The People’s Committee requested that street sweeping be stepped up and there be more regular garbage collections.

They said litterers or people dumping rubbish would be penalised and wards and communes should run anti-litter campaigns including continuing community weekend cleanup activities.

People who live near canals should be forced to sign garbage collection contracts to prevent them from throwing their rubbish in waterways.

Authorities should ask families who live on street fronts to put their rubbish out near the time of collection.

The committee said it aims to install 2,000 new dustbins and 50 public toilets this year. In districts where public toilets can’t be installed, toilets at filling stations, car and bike washers and parks should be opened to the public.

Dinh Thi Bach Mai, deputy head of the city Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that nearly 3,000 dustbins and 75 public toilets were installed in the city in 2009, double the number of 2008.

Moreover, the committee asked the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to co-operate with the Department of Information and Communications to do away with wall advertisements and punish violators.

The Department of Information and Communications and the city Electricity Company should make a detailed plan to remove unused electricity and telecommunication cables, they said.—VNS