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Akim of Almaty Yerbolat Dosayev spoke on the issue of the ban on the entry of regional transport into the city. This issue was raised in the context of air quality in the metropolis at an extraordinary session of the Maslikhat of Almaty, where the General Plan for the Development of Almaty until 2040 was submitted for approval by deputies.
«Everyone knows that the air quality in Almaty is a cornerstone problem, because we all breathe the same air. No one with oxygen masks walks in this city, our children are growing up, their allergenicity is off the scale. Not only from them, but also from us,» the Mayor of Almaty said.
One of the main sources of air pollution in Almaty is transport, Dosayev noted.
«Up to 30 percent is an issue related to public transport. Unfortunately, sometimes it comes to 300 thousand cars entering the city. Almost 80 percent of them do not meet any environmental standards. The Ministry of Ecology and the Akimat of Almaty — we will actively work with deputies on the possibility of strengthening measures to control the quality of fuels and lubricants, because everything starts from there. There are issues related to strengthening the monitoring and quality of the inspection of cars. But in the city you've probably seen smokehouse cars, with the 05 series, trucks, most are designed for transportation. We cannot close them (entry — approx. cor.), as they come to work,» the mayor said.
He also told how he sees the resolution of the situation.
«I was offered various ideas to close the entrance to the city and so on. But I said that, probably, first we should prepare and only then limit, as in the whole world. Because the daily population of Almaty is 2 million 700 thousand people. Plus or minus 500 thousand people who come to work. Unfortunately, the underdevelopment of public transport, the transport lack of connectivity with the Almaty agglomeration does not allow us to effectively restrict the entry of transport into the city. And if we complete projects with transport hubs, these are north, west and east, this will allow us to improve the quality of public transport. Yes, people will choose. There is no point in spending money, looking for parking,» said Yerbolat Dosayev.
The author of the news tengrinews.kz