Prague, Jan 23 (CTK) – Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) wants to check how the state applies its possibilities of fighting smog and the government will assess the environment ministry’s possible new initiatives in this respect, he said in a statement released to CTK yesterday.
The smog alert situation due to high concentrations of airborne dust in the air, which was declared last week, persists in nine out of 14 regions in the Czech Republic.
In four of them, including Prague, a stricter regulation which orders certain companies to limit their activities has been in force.
Sobotka wants Environment Minister Richard Brabec (ANO) to inform the government about the current smog situation and the outlook, and to assess the instruments with which the state can improve the condition on Wednesday.
“If the environment ministry has some new reasonable initiatives, we should consider them before our mandate expires,” Sobotka said.
A general election will be held in the country in October.
Sobotka praised the ongoing project of subsidies for the replacement of old boilers with new more environment-friendly.
“It is necessary to accelerate programmes aimed to lower emissions in transport. It will not be easy, it will not be done from day to day, but we must very carefully watch the key factors of air pollution, such as personal and transit transport, home boilers and naturally also partially industry,” Sobotka said.
The smog alert situation is declared when the concentration of airborne dust exceeds 100 micrograms per cubic metre in 12 hours at minimally a half of meteorological stations and when no decrease is expected in the next 24 hours.
Regulation is declared when the 12-hour average of concentration of dust crosses 150 micrograms.
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