West Beijing township's development to be controlled for better air quality

Development of a wind passage area in west Beijing will be limited to improve the air quality of China's capital, said a local official on Friday.

The township of Machikou in the northwest of Changping District is the only township on flat land in the mountainous district. Zhang Yanyou, head of the district, told press that the types of industries there will be strictly limited.

"It will be part of a green zone we are going to build, which focuses on ecological development," he said.

Zhang didn't give a detailed roadmap, saying that the plan is being drafted.

He also said that Changping, in the north of Beijing, will improve forestation and reclaim 4,000 hectares of land in the next five years so that forest coverage will rise to 48 percent from the current 46.2 percent.

Beijing was choked by 27 bouts of smog last year. Air quality has seen general improvement over the past year though, with a year-on-year drop of 6.2 percent in the average PM2.5 reading, which measures fine particles that can penetrate deep into lungs and cause more harm to health. Endi