21 Steps Announced in Move to Cut Smog Level in Mexico City

The government launched an anti-pollution program Friday aimed at reducing the level of smog that shrouds Mexico City and threatens the health of its 18 million inhabitants.

Officials unveiled 21 measures that included restrictions on use of private vehicles and the planting of 36 million trees.

Earlier this month, Ecology Minister Guillermo Carrillo Arenas said the government would take “drastic measures” to fight pollution in the city.

According to government statistics, there are 130,000 plants and factories in and around Mexico City, whose location in a valley helps trap pollutants in the air. Officials say there are 3 million private vehicles in the area.

New Factory Sites

The program calls for the selection within 90 days of the “most appropriate sites” to construct two industrial parks, where plants and factories destroyed by September’s earthquakes will be rebuilt.

Authorities also said natural gas will gradually replace kerosene, beginning this week, in electric power plants in the Valley of Mexico to reduce the 114 tons of sulfur dioxide released daily into the atmosphere.

A new traffic system that will favor mass transportation, limit private vehicle circulation and increase the number of pedestrian walkways is planned in the downtown area.

The government earlier had studied the possibility of keeping private vehicles off city streets one day a week, but the proposal was abandoned after it drew strong protests.

Eight hundred fuel-efficient buses will be added to the city fleet within 60 days, and 2,000 more will be added in the next year.

Emission Inspections

During the next two years, 300,000 emission inspections on private and government vehicles will be conducted. Emission control levels or possible fines were not announced.

In the next three years, 36 million trees will be planted by the Mexican army to increase oxygen levels in the densely populated city.

Doctors have blamed the choking air pollution for respiratory ailments and other sickness in the city and have called for measures to reduce the amount of potentially harmful chemicals being spewed into the atmosphere by cars and factories.

Calling the program “viable,” the National Ecological Commission said, “The solution to the pollution problem demands the greatest coordination from the diverse segments of society.”