Pollution plan would curb car sales in big cities
China said it will reduce coal consumption, close steel plants and control the number of cars on its roads in an effort to "gradually eliminate" heavy pollution in as soon as a decade.
Air pollution "harms the people's health and undermines social harmony and stability," the State Council, China's cabinet, said in an outline of the plan posted on the central government's Web site.
Authorities aim to reduce the concentration of PM2.5, the fine particles that pose the greatest health risk, by 25 percent in Beijing, Tianjin and surrounding Hebei province by 2017.
They'll seek to cut particulate concentrations by 20 percent in Shanghai and the Yangtze River delta and by 15 percent in southern China's Pearl River delta.
Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other large Chinese cities should "strictly" restrict the number of vehicles to curb pollution, according to the plan. Other cities should have "reasonable" controls on the number of cars, it said.
Beijing's municipal government announced its own plan earlier this month to limit car registrations and coal burning as it seeks to lower concentrations of fine particulates by 25 percent by 2017.
Authorities aim to reduce the concentration of PM2.5, the fine particles that pose the greatest health risk, by 25 percent in Beijing, Tianjin and surrounding Hebei province by 2017.
They'll seek to cut particulate concentrations by 20 percent in Shanghai and the Yangtze River delta and by 15 percent in southern China's Pearl River delta.
Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other large Chinese cities should "strictly" restrict the number of vehicles to curb pollution, according to the plan. Other cities should have "reasonable" controls on the number of cars, it said.
Beijing's municipal government announced its own plan earlier this month to limit car registrations and coal burning as it seeks to lower concentrations of fine particulates by 25 percent by 2017.
