(ECNS) -- Industrial production is the main source of air pollution in north China cities, the nation's top environmental watchdog said on Monday after an inspection.
The inspection results showed that many cities are besieged by industrial factories. Local economic growth is dominated by the steel industry in some areas such as Tangshan and Handan of Hebei province, or the coal industry in places like Yangquan and Jinzhong of Shanxi province, and Pingdingshan and Jiaozuo of Henan province, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
Coal consumption accounted for nearly 90 percent of the whole energy sector in north China cities, except Beijing and Tianjin, it added.
Furthermore, construction of environmental protection infrastructure has lagged behind in heavily industrialized cities. Low rates of central heating, insufficient supplies of clean energy, wide use of small boilers, and scattered burning of raw coal have all aggravated air pollution in winter.
Local governments must put more effort into improving energy infrastructures, while adopting and implementing workable environmental plans, the ministry said.
Cities in China's north experienced serious smog in November. Six cities in Beijing's neighboring Hebei province, including Xingtai, Baoding, Shijiazhuang, Langfang, Tangshan and Hengshui, were among the 10 cities with the most polluted air, together with Jinan in Shandong Province and the northeastern cities of Shenyang, Harbin and Changchun, according to the monthly report issued by the ministry on Sunday.
