Chongqing decides to make its downtown free from coal burning with a view to making the city's downtown air quality up to the state-prescribed standards by 2005.
In the coal-free area, no new facilities that burn coal will be added and the existing coal-burning facilities that have to be expanded or transformed will have to attain the state-prescribed standards for the emission of sulfur dioxide. Efforts will be made to build a natural gas transmission network to make more than 96% of the urban dwellers use clean fuel.
The coal-fueled electrical power plants and large coal-burning boilers will have to improve their emission of pollutants before a deadline. Those firms that use coal as the fuel will have to use clean energy before a deadline and those that fail to do so will have to stop production or shut down. Smaller boilers, restaurant furnaces and institutional canteens are not allowed to use coal as the fuel.
The coal suppliers are asked to supply coal only to those that are specifically permitted.
The city has already listed this work high on its agenda for this year.
(www.cenews.com.cn June 16, 2003)
