Gwangju City Establishes Air Quality Management Implementation Plan Through 2024

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 17th that it will establish the ‘Gwangju Metropolitan City Air Quality Management Implementation Plan (2020~2024)’ to reduce the annual average concentration of fine dust (PM2.5) to 16㎍/㎥ by 2024.

The city collected citizens’ opinions through a non-face-to-face public hearing on January 28 and plans to hold a final report meeting on the 17th, then finalize the plan after receiving approval from the Ministry of Environment.

The implementation plan includes about 100 detailed projects across seven types of air pollutants, managing air pollution sources such as industrial and emission facilities, transportation and mobile pollution sources, daily life and agriculture, forecasting, diagnosis, monitoring, and citizen protection and participation sectors.

In particular, to manage road mobile pollution sources, the main emission source of fine dust, the city plans to focus on ▲strengthening high-concentration fine dust reduction measures (seasonal management system, emergency reduction measures) ▲expanding support for switching to low-emission vehicles (early retirement of old diesel vehicles, installation of reduction devices) ▲expanding electric vehicle distribution ▲preventing re-dispersion of road dust (Clean Road System).

The city will implement a seasonal management system from December to March, when fine dust concentrations worsen, to promote strengthened reduction measures compared to usual periods.

During the seasonal management period, the city will intensively monitor pollutant-emitting workplaces and illegal fine dust emission sites, support facilities for fine dust avoidance and reduction, and carry out 16 projects in six areas.

If the predicted concentration of fine dust exceeds a certain standard, emergency reduction measures will be issued to expand fine dust reduction actions such as restricting the operation of grade 5 vehicles, strengthening road cleaning, and adjusting operating hours of construction sites generating scattered dust.

The restriction on grade 5 vehicle operation has been in effect since January 1 this year, and enforcement is deferred until December next year only for vehicles applying for installation of low-emission devices.

The city designates areas requiring intensive fine dust management, supports installation of fine dust avoidance and reduction facilities, operates 33 fine dust shelters, and implements life-oriented fine dust reduction projects.

To reduce vehicle emissions, the city expands early retirement support for old diesel vehicles, installation of emission reduction devices, and LPG conversion support projects.

Early retirement support targets grade 5 diesel vehicles and road-use type 3 construction machinery manufactured before 2005 under previous emission standards.

This year, for grade 5 diesel vehicles under 3.5 tons that cannot be equipped with particulate reduction devices or are owned by livelihood, business, or small business owners, the early retirement support limit was increased from 3 million KRW to 6 million KRW. Additional subsidies are also provided when purchasing used vehicles with emission grades 1?2 (electric, hydrogen, hybrid, gasoline, LPG, etc.).

This year’s emission reduction device installation support project will invest 4.2 billion KRW to support about 920 diesel particulate filters (DPF) and about 50 fine dust and nitrogen oxide (PM·NOX) reduction devices. The LPG conversion support project for children’s school vehicles has expanded eligibility to owners or registrants purchasing new LPG vehicles regardless of old diesel vehicle retirement.

A total of 1.6 billion KRW will be provided this year at 7 million KRW per vehicle, supporting 235 vehicles, doubling the scale compared to last year (114 vehicles, 700 million KRW).

Since 2013, the city has distributed 3,248 electric vehicles and 419 electric two-wheelers, and this year plans to distribute 1,200 electric vehicles (720 passenger cars, 480 cargo vehicles) and 200 electric two-wheelers.

The distribution plan will be announced on the 17th, and applications will be accepted from the 22nd.

The support amount ranges from 5.34 million KRW to 13 million KRW per electric passenger car, 9 million KRW to 26 million KRW depending on vehicle size for electric cargo vehicles, and 1.2 million KRW to 3.3 million KRW depending on type and size for electric two-wheelers.

Applicants must have resided in the Gwangju area for more than three months as of the day before application and be organizations with business locations in Gwangju. Distribution will be on a first-come, first-served basis by delivery order.

The city will operate the Clean Road System installed in the Culture Center and Geumnam-ro sections from next month to reduce fine dust and alleviate the heat island effect in the downtown area.

The Clean Road System is a road purification system introduced to remove fine dust in spring and autumn and lower temperatures in summer by utilizing clean groundwater discharged from subway stations, providing a comfortable environment for citizens.

It sprays groundwater onto the road surface through sprinkling nozzles installed on the central median strip, operating 1 to 3 times regularly and up to 4 times daily during high-concentration fine dust or heatwave periods, contributing to air quality improvement.

Na Hae-cheon, head of the city’s Air Conservation Division, said, “We will do our best to achieve Gwangju’s air quality improvement goals by 2024 and provide citizens with clear and clean air and an environment free from fine dust concerns.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.