Officials from Beijing and Tianjin cities, Shanxi and Hebei provinces and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region will join efforts to address air pollution, the Legal Evening News reported yesterday.

Pei Chenghu, deputy director of the Beijing environment protection administration, said Beijing will continue to curb coal burning in an attempt to cut pollution before the Olympics. The city plans to cap its annual coal consumption at 25 million tons, he noted.

The 16,000 20-ton and smaller boilers in the city's downtown, which use coal as fuel, will adopt cleaner energy before the event, Pei said.

Prior to June 30, 2008, Beijing will phase out three million vehicles that fail to meet the capital's environment requirements, he said.

Also, the city will relocate more polluting plants and prohibit outdated technologies and facilities.

As part of the efforts, Beijing-based Shougang Group, one of China's largest steel makers, plans to relocate its polluting plants to neighboring Hebei Province.

Shougang will cap annual production of its Beijing factories at four million tons by next year.

By 2010, all current Beijing-based steel operations will move to Hebei leaving only headquarters, R&D facilities and sales and logistics sections in the capital city.

From July 17, 2008 to September 20, 2008, the company will suspend steel production at venues near the games.