CRI听力:More cities see air-quality standards improved: environment official

Wu Jiyou, deputy director of with the Environmental Protection Ministry's Department of Environmental Monitoring says the general trend toward better air quality in Chinese cities remained consistent this past year.

"The number of cities meeting air quality standards has steadily increased, and so has the number of good-quality days through the year. 84 of 338 cities in China now meet national air-quality standards. This represents an increase of 11 cities compared with last year."

Official data also shows a decrease in the number of days with a high concentration of particulate matter and general bad air pollution.

Among the 340 cities measured, PM2.5 concentrations have dropped 6-percent on average, or by some 47-micrograms per cubic meter last year.

The number of severe air pollution days has also decreased by 2.6 percent.

The figures have been released as Beijing and other cities across northern and central China continue to struggle through pollution problems this winter, putting major pressure on authorities to address the problem.

To help curb the choking smog, China's leadership has been working to expand clean energy generation to replace coal-fired power plants in northern areas of the country.

The local tradition in northern China of burning coal for individual home-heating is also being cited as one of the continuing problems.

Wu Jiyou says the early months have proven problematic this winter.

"When winter heating first came-on, between November 15th and December 31st this past year, the concentration of PM2.5 increased 2.4 times for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Province region, averaging 135 micrograms per cubic meter. In December alone there were five large-scale air pollution events in this region. Though its air quality is improving, the capital region still remains the most polluted in the entire country."
One of the challenges facing local governments is the timely and accurate reporting of air-quality problems.

Liu Bingjiang, head of air-quality management with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, says this is something they're moving to try to address.

"We've set up an assessment mechanism with improving air quality as its core task and with CPC and government as its dual caretakers. This mechanism warns provinces and cities which prove slow in improving air quality; it summons provinces and cities with worsening air quality for direct hearings. This past year, officials from 7 different cities were called-out for slow or improper reporting of air quality."

On top of the obvious health concerns, the high-levels of air pollution are also creating economic concerns, as high-pollution days now force local governments to take steps to curb air pollution.

This includes shutting down factories and construction sites, as well as local traffic in certain circumstances, creating a direct impact on economic growth prospects.