A Hanoi resident has recommended using a mobile application to deal with public littering in Ho Chi Minh City, a vexing problem that has yet to be solved by local authorities.

Authorities have seemed to be powerless to stop people from throwing garbage on the sidewalk and roadway as well as in other public areas.

Nguyen Duc Nam, from the Vietnamese capital, has suggested making a smartphone app that could be helpful in the fight against littering in the southern hub.

Accordingly, the application will integrate the digital map of Ho Chi Minh City taken from Google, while users will be able to upload photo evidence of any violation to the map.

The images will appear on the digital map, relative to the location of the user, and be processed by a server operator, before officials in the nearest neighborhood arrive at the site to deal with the violator directly.

If the offender has already left the scene, officials will track and punish them later, with hints as the uploaded photos.

The offenses include garbage dumping, public urination, or such traffic violations as illegal parking and driving in wrong lanes.

In order to prevent photo evidence from being edited, the images must be uploaded within 20 seconds after being taken.

Residents will be rewarded for reporting such offenses, Nam stated, adding that the reward could be in the form of prepaid mobile phone cards.

The uploaded photos of violators who have paid their fines will be removed after five days, while those refusing to pay will see their images publicized on the Facebook page and website of the application.

Security officers at the Mien Tay (Western) Bus Station in Ho Chi Minh City ask residents to put trash in a recycle bin. Photo: Tuoi Tre 

“Designing the app compatible with both Android and iOS phones will cost some VND20 million [US$882], while establishing a server and hiring an operator will require another VND10 million [$441] a month,” Nam elaborated.

With such an app, Ho Chi Minh City will not need extra surveillance cameras to deal with the violations, Nam said, “as each user will be a street supervisor.”

The municipal Department of Information and Technology has finished evaluating the idea, affirming that such a project is necessary.

The municipal People’s Committee has gone on to ask the Department of Justice and the Department of Police to review the legal grounds for the app.

Colonel Nguyen Sy Quang, chief of staff of the police department, expressed his support for the proposal, stating that evidence provided by app users would help officers penalize violators.

Vo Van Khang, an IT expert and vice-president of the southern branch of the Vietnam Information Security Association, also backed that idea, saying that it is feasible to develop such a beneficial app.

Similar software models have been utilized in some districts to receive reports of noise pollution and traffic congestion, Khang added.

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