China to send air pollution inspection teams to provinces

China’s Environment Ministry said on Thursday it will send inspection teams to provinces and cities most seriously affected by smog to ensure rules on fighting air pollution are being enforced.

China’s smog crisis was thrown back dramatically into the spotlight this week when Harbin, a frigid northeastern city of 11 million people, virtually ground to a halt when a pollution index showed airborne contaminants at around 50 times the levels recommended by the World Health Organisation.

The problem was partly blamed on the government turning on the heating for the winter. Collective central heating, activated on a date set by the government, provides heat to 65 per cent of Harbin, figures quoted last year in the state media show. Much of that heat comes from burning coal. Beijing’s central heating normally comes on in mid-November.

China’s government has announced many plans to fight pollution over the years but has made little obvious progress, especially in the country’s north and northeast, where coal burning has driven the rapid growth in heavy industrial output.

Enforcing rules has been a particular problem with growth-obsessed local governments and powerful state-owned enterprises often ignoring central government guidelines and even falsifying their emissions data.

The teams will ensure that factories have installed the correct equipment to cut emissions of sulphur dioxide, that plants previously closed remain shut and that local governments are enforcing clean air policies, the ministry added.