Pollutant vehicles to be hit by eco ban

The French environment minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet announced yesterday that the cities (which also include Aix-en-Provence) are to take part in a pilot project starting from July 2012.The initiative involves setting up a Zone d'action prioritaire pour l'air (Zapa), a designated area in the city in which certain vehicles will have restricted access.

Early next year, the government will draw up a list of vehicles that will be banned under the new scheme and early indications suggest that lorries, buses and vans will be effected, as well as cars built before October 1997 and motorbikes produced before July 2004. Each city council will then be free to define for themselves the geographic perimeter of the restricted zones as well as the hours of enforcement.

"In these zones the most highly pollutant vehicles will be banned and drivers that flaunt the restrictions will be sanctioned," Véronique Paquis, municipal councillor for Nice said. Paquis, who is in charge of overseeing ecological and sustainable development in the city, added that the mairie would be working on putting the initiative into practice over the next 12 months.

TD