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Shanghai's pollution fight on target, says official

2015-03-03 08:57 Shanghai Daily Web Editor: Qian Ruisha
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Shanghai is aiming to eliminate all high-polluting vehicles in the city and smaller coal-burning boilers in local factories by the end of the year, Zhang Quan, director of the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau, said yesterday.

The authority will also begin fighting pollution caused by ships using the city's waterways, Zhang said after he arrived in Beijing ahead of the annual session of the National People's Congress that begins on Thursday. Zhang is a national legislator.

"Though it is quite challenging, I have faith to achieve the target to cut the city's PM2.5 density by 20 percent by 2017," he said.

He said Shanghai still had more than 90,000 high-polluting vehicles on the road after the authority eliminated 172,000 of them in 2014. The number of middle and small-size boilers that release high density pollutants during burning had also been cut last year — to 1,800 from over 10,000.

A focus this year will be on ships on the Huangpu and Yangtze rivers that are also polluting the city's air, Zhang said.

The bureau will be working out ways to supervise and manage such ships, he said. The pollution they create is mainly caused by the widespread use of cheap diesel as well as inefficient engines that lack filtration systems.

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, a US-based advocacy group, most ships at Chinese ports use cheap fuel which is high in sulfur, while port vehicles and equipment are generally powered by diesel.

The combined emissions from ships and ports contain high levels of diesel particulate matter, and oxides of nitrogen and sulfur, it said.

World's largest container port

As the world's largest container port, Shanghai handles more than 50,000 ships a year from across China and the world. But only 39 ships were withdrawn from service due to pollution in 2014, according to the city's traffic commission.

The use of electric generators to provide ships with power while they are berthed will be extended across the city's ports this year from the current Waigaoqiao Port.

Vehicles such as bulldozers, cranes and forklifts will also be supervised this year because many of them have been found to be using high-polluting fuels, Zhang said.

With major construction planned on the city's roads, tunnels and bridges this year, the bureau will also enhance the monitoring of dust at local construction sites with severe punishment for any violators, he said.

Shanghai introduced China's strictest air protection law with a maximum fine of 500,000 yuan (US$79,732) last year. The fines were likely to go up if polluters fail to take action, he said. Company bosses are also being targeted and face personal fines of up to 100,000 yuan.

Fireworks will also be more strictly controlled after measures taken during this year's Spring Festival had proved effective, he said. The average PM2.5 density was 40 micrograms during the festival this year, comparing with 120 during last year's celebration.

"I was quite inspired and given faith by the number because it means most local residents have a high awareness of air pollution and have begun fighting against it together," he said.

The city's PM2.5 density, the tiny particles that are particularly hazardous to health, dropped by 16 percent to an average of 52 micrograms per cubic meter in 2014 from 2013, but the figure is still far in excess of World Health Organization guidelines.

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