State Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Water Resources and Forests Bohdan Balaniscu said on Sunday that Iasi is one of the most polluted cities in the country and at the European level.

“Unfortunately, as European statistics show, Iasi occupies a shameful place. It ranks 20th in the list of the most polluted cities in Europe, and at the national level, Iasi is the most polluted city. I mean the air quality,” said Balaniscu, interim president of the municipal organization PSD of Iași.

He noted that at the opposite pole is the municipality of Galaţi, which ranks first at the national level in terms of good air quality and 320th at the European level.

The Secretary of State emphasized that measures must be taken to ensure that Iași is no longer at the top of the list of the most polluted cities, and one of the solutions concerns traffic and parking.

“To have a city with cleaner air for us and our children, we need a mix of solutions. One of them is aimed at the transport component, which is one of the main sources of pollution at the level of a large city, in particular at the level of Iasi,” Bohdan Balaniscu said.

According to him, the number of cars polluting the environment should be reduced and alternative transport should be more attractive.

He criticized the municipality of Jesa, noting that it had accepted only 2,000 cars under the local Rabla program.

“At the level of the Ministry of Natural Resources, we launched the local Rabla Program. Iasi can apply for the decommissioning of 5,000 cars, the owners of these cars will receive a ticket, which we pay 80%, and the municipality of Iasi has to contribute 20%. Iasi applied for only 2,000 out of 5,000 cars,” Balaniscu explained.

Another component of pollution reduction is related to the increase of green spaces.

“Unfortunately, there are only two parks in Iasi, and here I mean only the Kopou area. In the area of ​​Dacia – Aleksandru cel Bun, the area with the largest population, there are many cars and too few parks and trees. If we are talking about the Nikolina district, then the situation is the same. I have not seen a serious approach on the part of the municipality in this matter. Air quality affects our lives,” State Secretary Bohdan Balaniscu emphasized. (Agerpres)