Beijing to Improve Air Quality

The authorities in Beijing are considering taking more measures to improve the quality of the capital city's air, the Beijing News reports.

According to an air-cleaning campaign plan released recently by the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, the Beijing municipal government will be presented with 69 measures designed to improve air quality.

Among the measures, it has been suggested that the government collect fees from those enterprises which produce emissions such as construction site dust, cooking fumes and volatile organic compounds.

At the same time, the measures also suggest that the government improve the existing charging standard of high polluting emission items and adjust the tiered pricing system of coal, oil and electricity consumption which will help save energy and protect the environment.

As the plan states, Beijing aims to lower the average concentration of air pollutants by 2 percent by the end of this year, based on figures from 2012.

A traffic police officer and two assistants wear dust masks while on duty at Chang'an Avenue, in Beijing, March 9, 2013. [Beijing News]