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Polluted city starts to breathe easier
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Jia Lifei has spent the last nine years in frustration as an environment worker in Xingtai, a city south of Beijing.
鈥淴ingtai, like many other cities in Hebei, earned a name for being a city of smog, and in the last few years, blue skies could only be seen about half of the year,鈥 said Jia, who works in environmental inspection in Xingtai, in north China鈥檚 Hebei Province.
鈥淚 felt embarrassed as an environment worker because my hands were tied. The government was also under huge pressure from the public and investors,鈥 he said.
With the introduction of a coordinated development plan between Beijing, Hebei and Tianjin, in which pollution control is one of the top priorities, Xingtai may finally get a break from years of entrapment by polluting industries.
The city thrives on steel, cement and glass-making, some of the worst polluting industries.
In a 25-kilometer radius, there used to be 133 coal-burning companies, enveloping the city in pollution all year around.
鈥淣o matter what season, or what direction the wind blows, the pollutants have nowhere to go but downtown Xingtai,鈥 said Si Guoliang, director of environment protection bureau.
Since last year, officials have been taking action.
Shahe, administered by Xingtai, produces a fifth of the glass in China. Ninety production lines have been shut down and 52 others made less polluting.
鈥淢ore than 1.56 billion yuan (US$245 million) has been spent to cut pollutants,鈥 said Qiao Guangru, Shahe鈥檚 deputy environment chief.
Under a national plan, Beijing needs to spend 460 million yuan to cut coal consumption in Langfang and Baoding, two of worst polluted cities in Hebei. Xingtai also gets funds to fight pollution.
鈥淲e have begun to see more blue skies,鈥 said Jia, who has worked in Xingtai after graduating from college in 2007.
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