BAGUIO CITY – The city government suspended the ongoing implementation of the carless Tuesdays within the premises of the City Hall grounds to provide adequate parking spaces for employees providing essential services and for the public transacting business with the concerned offices.
Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong approved the recommendation of some city government department heads for the suspension of the implementation of the carless Tuesdays in the light of the need for adequate parking spaces for clients of the concerned offices of the city government in the face of the serious repercussions of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic to the regular activities of the city.
Earlier, the city government started the implementation of carless Tuesdays in the parking areas around the city hall building as part of the efforts of the present administration to encourage people to walk and reduce the pollutants being emitted by motor vehicles in the city’s air as one of the identified polluted areas is the road below the premises of the city hall.
Studies show smoke being emitted by motor vehicles is the major pollutant in the city’s air that compelled the city government to strictly implement the roadside inspection, testing and monitoring of motor vehicles to ensure that the smoke being emitted by the same pass the standards pursuant to the provisions of the Clean Air Act and the localized version of the aforesaid law.
One of the present administration’s 15-point collective agenda is a revitalized environment through the implementation of programs, projects and activities geared towards improving the current state of the city’s environment.
The city government is aggressively implementing various strategies to help preserve and protect the current state of the city’s environment and find ways on how to improve the same considering that its cool weather condition is its natural pull for people from the lowlands to flock to the city.
Part of the ongoing initiatives of the city government is for the installation of additional state-of-the-art ambient air monitoring machines in strategic areas around the city to monitor the quality of air in real time as a basis for decision and policy makers in the crafting of appropriate measures to address the situation in the city.
Based on the data obtained from the established ambient air monitoring machines of the city, lower Session Road and Abanao St. below the City Hall are said to be the most polluted parts of the city, especially during rush hours due to the huge volume of vehicles travelling along the said roads, while the Camp John Hay and the Gibraltar areas have the best air quality in the whole city.
In general, the city’s air quality is good to fair depending on the area and the volume of vehicles plying the said places and the time of the day.
By Dexter A. See