Locals participating in the voluntary programme can have their motorbikes' emissions tested for free at eight vehicle maintenance agencies until September.
Owners of bikes whose gas emissions are within the national criteria can receive vouchers for changing engine oil.
Vehicles that exceed the criteria will be subjected to further testing and will receive free maintenance for parts such as spark plugs and carburetors.
More than 6,000 testing papers are expected to be issued during the pilot period to locals who want to sign up for the programme.
Talep Issa Mael of District 3's Honda - Tan Long Van agency, one of the testers for the programme, said that procedures would take around 15 minutes, including both testing and data entry. The data will be sent to the Vietnam Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers for analysis.
Additional testing for vehicles exceeding the national criteria will take around 45 minutes.
District 1 has two assessment facilities at Ly Tu Trong and Nguyen Trai streets; District 3 has one at Tran Quoc Thao street; Phu Nhuan District has three at Phan Dang Luu, Truong Quoc Dung and Nguyen Kiem streets; and Tan Binh District has two at Cong Hoa and Pho Quang streets.
As of 2019, HCM City had nearly 8 million motorbikes, accounting for around 90 percent of vehicles in the city.
Bui Hoa An, Deputy Director of the Department of Transport, said that traffic congestion, noise and air pollution, and vehicles with poor emissions were causing health problems among local residents.
Emissions are normally assessed when automobiles are manufactured, imported or registered, but the procedure does not exist for motorbikes.
The voluntary testing programme for motorbikes aims to examine locals' response to such a programme, according to An. Through the pilot, motorbike emissions will be evaluated and the socio-economic impact of monitoring emissions will be assessed.
The department will also use the collected data to expand the monitoring programme, focusing on old vehicles. The city police have been asked to focus more on old motorbikes, which cause a great deal of pollution and pose safety risks.
Authorities are also raising local awareness about the usage of old vehicles, An said.
Associate Professor Ho Quoc Bang, Director of the Air Pollution and Climate Change Research Centre, said that if the city launched a programme to monitor motorbike emissions, a 30 percent decrease in air pollution could be achieved.
