Beijing is aiming for "Apec blue" skies over the capital for second world war commemorations in September, with plans to revive tough air pollution restrictions introduced for the international summit last year. Chen Tian, head of Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, said the bureau would "refer" to measures taken for November's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to ensure good air quality for the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war on September3, The Beijing News reported on Thursday. The day has been declared a public holiday and will feature a military parade in Tiananmen Square. It is also a holiday in Hong Kong. Chen said a panel of scientists would draft plans and advise on measures. "Beijing and neighbouring provinces and cities will join efforts to ensure [good] air quality," he was quoted as saying. In the run-up to the summit last year, Beijing spearheaded an emissions-control campaign in Tianjin , Hebei , Shanxi , Inner Mongolia and Shandong provinces. Authorities across the region monitored air quality and rolled out a series of measures - including shutting down factories - to cut pollution. For 10 days from November 3, cars in Beijing were allowed on the roads only on alternate days, depending on their licence plate number, and nearly 400 companies stopped production and shut down boilers. Neighbouring cities and provinces also imposed similar traffic and emissions limits. In Hebei alone, around 1,000 factories were temporarily shut. As a result, the level of PM2.5 pollutants - those most harmful to human health - more than halved in Beijing and dropped by about a third throughout the region over the 10 days. The gains in air quality during Apec were also attributed to the efforts of a joint task force set up several years ago to combat air pollution in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Henan , Inner Mongolia and Shandong. In addition, Beijing had earmarked 460 million yuan (HK$582 million) to help curb pollution in Langfang and Baoding , while Tianjin would give 400 million yuan to Tangshan and Cangzhou from 2015 to 2017, the bureau said on Wednesday. The bureau aimed to cut coal use by 830million tonnes in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei by 2017. "These cities are home to many iron and steel, thermal power generation and cement manufacturing operations, where coal consumption and emissions are extremely high," said Liu Xin, from the bureau's air pollution coordination treatment division. Bureau deputy chief Zhuang Zhidong said the funds would be used to phase out small-coal-fuelled boilers, upgrade larger boilers and cut coal consumption by 770,000 tonnes this year. Beijing had released the funds to Langfang and Baoding by last month and they were expected to complete their boiler upgrades by November, when central heating would be supplied to all urban households, Zhuang told the Beijing Youth Daily .