Tianjin Municipality, a region plagued by air pollution in north China, issued 1,340 pollution fines last year, totalling over 92 million yuan (13.3 million U.S. dollars), environmental authorities said Friday.
The number of fines surged 56 percent year on year, while the value of the fines increased by 7 percent over 2015, said Yang Yong, an official with the municipal environmental protection bureau.
Regular and surprise inspections were organized in key industries, such as steel and cement, garbage burning, coal-firing facilities and ozone control, said Jia Chunning, head of the municipal environmental protection enforcement team.
According to the city's environmental monitoring center, air quality hit national standards for 226 days in 2016, six more days than 2015, while the number of days for heavy air pollution increased by three days to 29.
"Especially this winter, the air quality of the city has not improved compared with 2015," Yang said, adding it had witnessed the worst air pollution in five years.
The city issued a red alert for pollution in mid-December when schools and traffic were disrupted by heavy smog.
Yang said that Tianjin would further speed up the use of clean energy and intensive control of vehicle and industrial pollution.
