Hebei province has finished the draft of a plan to cut air pollution and expects to implement it as soon as it gets government approval, according to the provincial environmental protection office, which said the "Provincial Air Pollution Control Action Plan" contains 50 suggestions on reducing major pollutants - PM 2.5 and PM 10 (pollutants with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers and 10 micrometers).

A person from the office said the province does not have a clear picture about the air pollution situation since it has not conducted overall monitoring of pollutants, so it will not be so easy to set a timeline on when the province can meet national standards.

But the official confirmed that they will release more detailed figures on how many tons of pollutants are cut every year. The action plan has been handed over to the government for review and the results will be published as soon as they are available.

The central government says it will make every effort to do something about the deteriorating air quality, since smog now covers many cities for months in a row, causing great concern about people’s health.

The State Council has come up with 10 guidelines for major areas with serious air pollution, including Beijing, Hebei, and Tianjin, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta. There are national guidelines on emissions and shutting down backward production facilities in high-polluting industries, such as iron and steel and electrolytic aluminum, and for improving energy consumption. Hebei itself produces a quarter of the country’s iron and steel and consumes massive amounts of coal so, in relation to the guidelines, it needs to seriously focus on reducing its PM 2.5 emissions over the next five years.