China to spend $ 2.6 billion to fight Beijing pollution this year
More than $ 2.6 billion (18.2 billion Yuan) will be pumped into Beijing’s budget in 2017 to fight air pollution, it was announced over the weekend as northern China including the capital prepares for a heavy bout of smog from Sunday.
After some “blue sky” days last week, a spike was recorded in pollution levels in Beijing on Sunday, with the National Meteorological Centre predicting that smog is expected to hit Beijing, neighbouring Tianjin and Hebei besides Shanxi, Henan and Shaanxi in central China.
Circulars were issued to residents in the regions to take precautions and choose public transport over private vehicles to mitigate pollution levels. At the beginning of 2017, a red alerts was triggered by severe smog in more than 20 cities. “When authorities issue red alerts, some manufacturers are required to cut production, and heavily polluting vehicles are banned from the roads. China has a four-tier colour-coded warning system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue,” official Xinhua news agency said in a report.
“This year, the city will strengthen air pollution treatment, replace coal with clean energy for 700 villages, phase out 300,000 high-polluting old vehicles, close or upgrade 2,570 polluting factories,” Beijing’s acting mayor Cai Qi was quoted as saying at the annual session of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, which opened on Saturday.