ID :
345510
Thu, 10/23/2014 - 04:39
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881 Factories In Hebei To Shutdown For Better Air Quality During APEC

By Niam Seet Wei BEIJING (China), Oct 23 (Bernama) -- China is expected to temporarily shut down a total of 881 factories in its northern part of Hebei province, to ensure better air quality during the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference. The factories involving excavation, demolition, waste transportation and similar activities that generated dust would be halted from Nov 3-12, while other construction operations would be cut by half, as required, the China Daily reported. Apart from that, outdoor barbecues and waste incineration would also be banned during the period, the report said. The daily also quoted the government guideline as saying another 1,564 construction sites in the province would be shut down completely if it found that the air quality would continue to deteriorate. Beijing and Hebei are among the cities which have been suffering from bad air quality in recent years, with the cities' air quality index (AQI) readings easily exceeding 300. An AQI reading hit over 300 represents hazardous air quality with potentially serious health impacts. Hebei is a neigbouring province of Beijing. The 2014 APEC summit will be held here from Nov 5-11. --BERNAMA

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