Mexican Environment Secretary Rafael Pacchiano has recommended that the Metropolitan Environmental Commission, or CAME, hold a special meeting to discuss improving air quality in the Mexico City region.
The metro region is comprised of Mexico City and 224 municipalities in the central states of Mexico, Hidalgo, Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala.
Officials from several federal Cabinet departments, including the Health Secretariat, are expected to attend the meeting.
Considering the ProAire program’s success in the Valley of Mexico, Pacchiano said a similar project should be implemented in the megalopolis, focusing on three key areas: improving mobility and public transportation; promoting energy conservation; and improving infrastructure and urban development.
The Health Secretariat will work to expand monitoring of diseases associated with air pollution, increasing the number of health clinics in the region from 17 to at least 200.
The Finance and Public Credit Secretariat is expected to speed up the disbursement of more than 11 billion pesos ($595.9 million) for infrastructure projects and modernization of public transit units, as required by local governments.
The National Infrastructure Fund will support the expansion of the Air Quality Monitoring Network with 150 million pesos ($8.1 million) in funding, and it will also support the immediate replacement of 1,000 conventional taxis with hybrid vehicles.
The National Forestry Commission, for its part, will focus reforestation efforts on planting 18 million trees and establishing windbreaks in the north and east of the Valley of Mexico, among other projects.
Source: EFE
