Suwon Included in Fine Dust Intensive Management Areas... Gyeonggi Province Announces 4th Plan

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hoon] Gyeonggi Province will implement seasonal fine dust management measures from December to March of next year, including restrictions on operation of aged vehicles and intensive management of facilities with high pollutant emissions.

In addition, Suwon will be included in fine dust intensive management areas that provide fine dust information and support emission reduction facilities, bringing the total to 13 locations.

Eom Jin-seop, Director of the Gyeonggi Province Environment Bureau, held a press conference at Gyeonggi Provincial Government Office on the 22nd and announced the "4th Gyeonggi Province Fine Dust Seasonal Management Implementation Plan" containing these details.

The fine dust seasonal management system, which began in 2019, is a program that implements strengthened fine dust emission reduction and management measures from December through March of the following year compared to normal times in order to mitigate high-concentration fine dust occurrence and protect the health of province residents.

For the 4th seasonal management period, the province aims to achieve an average PM2.5 concentration of 25㎍/㎥ and plans to implement 19 implementation tasks across 6 sectors: ▲Transportation ▲Industry ▲Daily life ▲Health protection ▲Information provision ▲Cooperation strengthening.

First, the core project of the seasonal management system, which restricts operation of Grade 5 emission vehicles in the transportation sector, will be conducted on weekdays excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. When Grade 5 vehicles registered nationwide without low-emission measures are caught, a fine of 100,000 won per day will be imposed.

During the 3rd cycle, Grade 5 vehicles registered outside the capital area were exempted from fines if they completed low-emission measures by September of this year, but this time they are included in the fine imposition targets.

Only fire trucks, ambulances, and vehicles for the disabled, as specified in the "Special Act on Fine Dust Reduction and Management," are exempted from enforcement.

To reduce fine dust from ships and ports, plans include inspecting compliance with fuel oil sulfur content standards for ships at Pyeongtaek Port and conducting inspections of fugitive dust reporting facilities such as grain unloading facilities within ports.

In the industrial sector, among approximately 18,000 atmospheric emission businesses located in Gyeonggi Province, approximately 2,500 businesses will be subject to intensive inspections, focusing on large-scale businesses of Type 3 and above and facilities with frequent civil complaints.

During spring when ultrafine dust worsens, the province plans to operate a support team to ensure that emission reductions are substantially achieved at businesses implementing voluntary reduction in the power generation and heating sectors.

Additionally, the province plans to inspect energy usage practices for 75 affiliated organizations to ensure compliance with the public sector energy conservation practice code, which has been strengthened this year, including maintaining indoor heating temperatures at 17 degrees Celsius or below, sequential shutdown of heating equipment during power peak hours, and prohibition of personal heating devices.

In the daily life sector, the province plans to pre-block fine dust occurrence by operating crushing services for proper treatment of agricultural residue generated after farming activities and using joint inspection teams of agricultural, environmental, and forestry departments (42 inspection teams from 31 cities and counties) to monitor illegal burning in rural areas.

Additionally, to manage road re-suspended dust, which comprises a large portion of fine dust emission sources, the province plans to strengthen fine dust management on major roads together with cities and counties using 558 road sweepers.

Using local-level fine dust illegal emission monitoring groups (364 people) and fine dust response private action groups (52 people) where residents directly participate, the province will monitor and monitor household pollution sources and conduct inspections of fine dust pollution sources in daily life.

In the field of protecting residents' health, special inspections of indoor air quality will be conducted at 813 multi-use facilities such as transportation facilities that are vulnerable to fine dust during high-concentration periods, and pollution tests will be conducted on 100 facilities.

For subway stations where the daily average PM2.5 concentration frequently exceeds 50㎍/㎥, the province plans to strengthen air quality management in subway stations by implementing ventilation equipment and wet cleaning.

The number of fine dust intensive management areas, which provide fine dust information and support emission reduction facilities, has increased from 10 to 13 as Suwon, Yongin, and Gimpo were newly designated this year.

The intensive management areas will support residential proximity facilities such as ventilation systems, smart air showers, and fine dust intake mats.

Director Eom Jin-seop of the Environment Bureau stated, "For the seasonal management system to succeed, residents' practice in daily life and active participation are very important," and urged interest and cooperation.