Bucharest, 6th most polluted city in Europe

Bucharest ranks 6th as most polluted city in Europe, which is why concrete steps to improving air quality are required, on Thursday said the City Hall (PMB) in a communique. "As for the fake information spread in the public space by the representatives of some political parties who do not understand or deliberately ignore the benefits of the project presented by the Bucharest Mayor Gabriela Firea, through which an electronic vignette is introduced for the road traffic on the public roads of Bucharest, for the motor vehicles with a high degree of pollution, the Bucharest Municipality specifies: considering that Bucharest ranks 6th in the top of the most polluted cities in Europe, concrete steps are necessary to improve the air quality. In Romania, Bucharest is on 4th spot as the most polluted city, after northeastern Iasi, centre-western Cluj-Napoca and central Brasov, whilst the very core of Bucharest according to measurements is a 'peak area' of both the traffic jamming and of the pollution generated by the motor vehicles. We bring to mind that one of the main reasons why pollution record values are recorded is the thick road traffic, caused by the large-scale use of one's own vehicle," the PMB says in a release sent to AGERPRES. According to the source, the number of the motor vehicles crossing Bucharest has doubled in the last 10 years, hence the pollution values are 9-10 times higher that the allowed limits. The Bucharest Mayor Gabriela Firea on Wednesday announced the release into public debate of a project envisaging the purchase of a vignette by all motor vehicles that are crossing Bucharest, yet are not registered in Bucharest or the County of Ilfov (the county around the city).AGERPRES(RO - author: Dana Piciu, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author, editor: Maria Voican)