As of May 31 this year, Hohhot city has had 109 days of excellent air quality. [Photo/Hohhot Daily]

Hohhot in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region has been making real progress in its efforts to go green, with progress in particular made in air pollution control, according to local media reports.

Officials said the municipal government is attaching great importance to air pollution control work and is actively following the Hohhot Air Pollution Control Management Regulations.

It has formulated four action plans, six special implementation plans and three support assessment methods for coal combustion control, dust control, motor vehicle exhaust control and volatile organic compound prevention.

The burning of coal-fired boilers and scattered coal in shantytowns and urban villages is an important factor affecting the air quality in Hohhot. As of the end of May this year, 23 areas had been connected to the city’s more environmentally friendly central heating system and 44 "coal to electricity" renovation projects were started.

The implementation of special emission limits to 28 boiler rooms in Hohhot city has been completed and the installation of ultra-low emissions devices for five boilers at power plants and four coal-fired boiler rooms is in progress.

Officials said that in order to achieve precise targets and management of air pollution prevention and control, Hohhot has begun construction of a grid monitoring system for air pollution hotspots.

Combining a more efficient power grid division with the heavily polluted areas of the city, plans are to build 60 grid-type air quality miniature monitoring stations this year. These monitor emissions including PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, CO, O3, TVOC and perform video surveillance.

Officials said Hohhot is also continuously adjusting its energy infrastructure, promoting clean energy and developing clean production.

They said the city actively encourages companies to voluntarily move to clean production and is supporting energy conservation by firms and emissions reductions in accordance with related policies and regulations.