The ban is among the measures announced yesterday (Oct 29) by Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt to fight PM2.5 pollution, which tends to worsen in the cool season, reports the Bangkok Post.
Trucks with six wheels or more that emit exhaust fumes above a certain level will be banned from the nine designated districts for three days when air pollution from fine dust particles in five districts reaches the red zone, defined as 75 microgrammes per cubic metre of air or more. Only vehicles proven to have clean engines based on a checklist of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will be exempted from the ban.
The ban order will be announced 24 hours in advance and will take effect for three days. Violators face fines up to B2,000 and/or up to one month in jail.
Starting next month, the BMA will allow all trucks to apply for the “green list” if the owners can prove that their vehicles and engines have been well maintained to meet City Hall guidelines. Once they are on the “green list”, they will be excluded from the ban.
Mr Chadchart acknowledged that the BMA has no authority to control traffic, but he said City Hall would use the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Act to enforce the ban. The law permits provincial governors to crack down on the causes of pollution in their jurisdiction.
He said 257 closed-circuit cameras installed all over Bangkok would aid officials in capturing the licence plates of trucks violating the ban. Officials would also be sent to visit sites suspected of emitting pollution into the air.
“It’s not a sweeping, across—the-board action we’re taking. We’d rather see the low-pollution emitters continue to conduct their trade in time of economic difficulty,” said Mr Chadchart. “If we banned every truck, those who toed the line would be punished, which isn’t fair.”
He also encouraged office workers to work from home whenever five districts reach red-zone levels of pollution, for two consecutive days to keep cars off the roads.
The nine districts designated as low-emission zones are:
Bang Rak
Dusit
Klong San
Pathumwan
Phaya Thai
Phra Nakhon
Pomprap Sattruphai
Samphanthawong
Sathon.
The districts are located within the boundary of the inner ring road that connects Ratchadaphisek with Charan Sanitwong roads.
Bangkok in recent years has been facing growing problems from fine-dust air pollution from November to the start of summer around March.
The capital ranked 50th for the world’s dirtiest air at 3pm yesterday with an IQAir index of 50 microgrammes per cubic metre, designated “moderate” or yellow. The worst air in the world was in Lahore in Pakistan, at 240.
In a related development, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra issued a directive yesterday for various ministries to work on curbing PM2.5 pollution as it is a threat to national health.
The Digital Economy and Society Ministry and the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry were told to jointly map out ways to counter haze pollution with agencies working on the ground.
She said measures could include banning the purchase and sale of corn and sugar cane grown in fields that had been cleared for farming via the slash-and-burn method.