The Haifa City Council approved last night [Tuesday 3.1.17/2017/XNUMX] the by-law "Zone with reduced pollutant emissions from transportation" (Clean Air), XNUMX, thus becoming the first city in Israel to enshrine in law a plan to reduce air pollution from transportation in its territory.
With the approval of the by-law by the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Transportation and after its publication in the records, the municipal inspectors will be authorized to enforce the ban on the entry of polluting vehicles into population concentrations. In this way, Haifa joins 200 cities in Europe where a "clean air zone" has already been implemented.
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav: "The fight for clean air in Haifa is a multi-stage fight, the core of which is a fight against the polluting factories and an aggressive reduction of emissions. Our fight against pollution from transportation does not detract for a moment from the fight we will continue to wage against the polluting industries. What the City Council approved last night they did They have already repaired in other cities in Europe and thus succeeded in dramatically improving the quality of life of the residents.
The by-law was established by virtue of the Traffic Ordinance and came as a follow-up to the "Area Plan for Reduced Pollutant Emissions from Public Transportation (Clean Air)" which was approved by the city council on 19.9.16/XNUMX/XNUMX and aims to reduce air pollution resulting from transportation. According to the plan, a restricted area for polluting vehicles will be implemented on routes where there is a traffic load of Diesel vehicles in close proximity to population concentrations in Haifa.
The outline of the plan was drawn up by the Haifa Municipality in cooperation with the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Transportation as part of an overall plan to reduce air pollution in Haifa Bay. And on the basis of the document of understanding signed by the CEOs of the municipality and the offices. The overall plan was approved more than a year ago by a government decision (529 m) to reduce air pollution and reduce environmental risks in Haifa Bay and will be implemented as early as 2017.
The program is one component of a set of additional activities promoted by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the municipality and the Haifa Bay Cities Association for Environmental Quality, and the Ministries of Transportation and Finance. In the first phase, heavy diesel vehicles weighing 3.5 tons or more will be restricted from entering the residential areas. In the second phase, the entry of vehicles will be restricted Commercial diesels weighing less than 3.5 tons. Owners of polluting vehicles will be offered the installation of a dedicated filter at a subsidized price as a condition for receiving permission to move in the designated areas.
The plan and the by-law will not apply to a security vehicle while performing its duty, to an IDF vehicle in the framework of an operational activity, and to a vehicle bearing a disabled badge.
In light of the requirement of the Ministry of Transportation and to enable the complete organization of the bus fleet, the plan and the by-law will apply to public transportation in stages. Public transportation lines will be closed until January 1.1.18, XNUMX
09 - The plan for a zone with reduced emissions from transportation in Haifa.
And the entrance section to the Carmel Beach switchboard will be closed until January 1.1.19, XNUMX. After the aforementioned date, the plan will be fully applied to all public transportation.
The program focuses on air pollutants considered to have the most significant potential for health damage: fine respirable particles of the 2.5PM type. Vehicles defined by the Ministry of Defense as "polluting vehicles" powered by diesel engines which are a very significant source of these pollutants in relation to the extent of their travel. The installation of appropriate filtration systems in those vehicles is expected to reduce particulate emissions. Therefore, the plan is expected to significantly reduce the concentrations of pollutants to which the residents are exposed. The expected reduction rate as a result of the implementation of the first phase of the program is about 13% for respirable PM 2.5 particles and 4% for nitrogen oxides. The implementation of the second phase of the program will result in a total reduction of 23% for respirable particles of the 2.5 PM type and 6% for nitrogen oxides.
Last night [Tuesday 3.1.17], as mentioned, the city council approved the normative framework for the enforcement of the plan through a bylaw by the municipal inspectors. With the publication of the bylaw in the records, warning signs will be placed on the access roads to the city and road signs will mark the areas where the driving of polluting vehicles will be prohibited.