On March 5th, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited a new centre for environmental diagnostics of motor vehicles in Tashkent.
Environmental issues have become a major concern in Uzbek’s capital city, especially air pollution caused by harmful emissions from traffic.
In a measure to stall the sharp increase in air pollution, the centre first assesses the level of harmful substances emitted by motor vehicles and depending on results, attaches color-coded stickers with chips to vehicles’ windshields.
Plans are in place to divide the city’s territory into several ecological zones. Entry will be limited in accordance with the level of pollutants emitted by vehicles, identified by their red, yellow, or green stickers. Drivers of vehicles that violate the rules will be automatically fined and the resulting revenue, invested in incentives to further improve the environment.
The government plans to expand the initiative by installing some 100 automatic air monitoring stations and creating 84 registration and diagnostic centres for vehicles across the country.
In a move towards tackling air pollution, the government will also encourage the purchase of greener, electric vehicles by reducing the fee for state license plates.
