Beijing to invest heavily to treat air pollution

BEIJING - Beijing will invest nearly 1 trillion yuan (162.6 billion US dollars) to treat air pollution in the next five years, a senior municipal environmental official said on Tuesday.

The figure is the total of all public and private investments, including 200 billion to 300 billion yuan from the city government, said Fang Li, deputy head of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau.

"Beijing is an open city. All social forces will be mobilized and international advanced technologies and enterprises are welcome," said Fang, who is also the bureau's spokesman.

Earlier this month, Beijing municipal authorities unveiled a five-year plan to improve air quality through measures such as cutting coal consumption, promoting clean energy use and reducing production capacities with heavy pollution.

The capital's 2013-2017 plan aims to reduce PM 2.5 density by 25 percent or more by 2017. PM 2.5 particles are airborne particles measuring less than 2.5 microns in diameter that caused hazardous smog earlier this year.