Qingdao to Allocate 350 Million for Upgrading Coal-fired Boilers Next Year to Guard Its Blue Sea and Azure Sky

Qingdao News Network, November 24 (Reporter: Zhu Ying, Correspondents: Xue Jiantao, Zhao Runde) — This afternoon, a Qingdao News Network reporter learned from the Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau that since the beginning of 2017, Qingdao has issued a total of 240 million yuan in subsidies for the exhaust gas treatment and renovation of coal-fired boilers, which equals the total amount of the previous three years (2014-2016) combined. In 2018, Qingdao will invest another 350 million yuan to subsidize the upgrading of coal-fired boilers to achieve ultra-low emissions.

From January to October, the city had 289 days of "blue sky, white clouds, and twinkling stars", an increase of 16 days compared to the same period last year, accounting for more than 95% of the total days. The average concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and inhalable particulate matter (PM10) reached 35 micrograms per cubic meter and 70 micrograms per cubic meter, respectively, improving by 16.7% and 14.6% compared to the same period last year. This is the best level in the past five years, and the air quality ranks at the forefront of the province. In the first half of the year, Qingdao received a provincial government bonus of 16.77 million yuan.

In the first 10 months, the water quality of the city's key rivers, especially the urban rivers, continued to improve, and 12 black and odorous water bodies in the built-up areas were remediated. The water environment of the coastal waters continued to improve, and the water quality of Jiaozhou Bay reached the best level in many years. The water quality safety of 18 urban centralized drinking water sources in the city has been effectively guaranteed.

As of now, all 86 coal-fired small boilers below 10 steam tons in the built-up area of the city have been eliminated, 103 coal-fired boilers have completed ultra-low emission modifications, 10 industrial dust control projects have been completed, 5068 construction site dust inspections have been conducted, 2463 gas stations have been inspected, and over 42,000 vehicle inspections have been carried out.

As of the end of October, the city has completed the clean transformation of six major industries including coking, nitrogenous fertilizer production, papermaking, active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing, tanning, and printing and dyeing. All 13 provincial and above-level industrial agglomerations in the city have realized centralized sewage collection and treatment, and a ledger has been established for 420 water-related enterprise sources in the city to achieve dynamic supervision. The standardized construction of urban centralized drinking water sources has been implemented, and a basic survey of rural "thousand tons and ten thousand people" drinking water sources has been carried out. Protection zones have been delineated for 42 rural water sources. Seven new renovation and expansion projects of sewage treatment plants, including the upgrading and renovation of the Maidao Sewage Treatment Plant and the expansion of the Dongjiakou Sewage Treatment Plant, have been put into operation. The city has newly rebuilt 78.5 kilometers of drainage pipes and 14 sewage pumping stations.

From January to October, more than 30,000 enterprise inspections were conducted. Over 2,400 scattered and polluted enterprises that had attracted numerous complaints from the public were rectified or banned. A total of 3,228 environmental violations were ordered to be corrected, 2,320 cases were put on record for punishment, and fines amounting to 82.8 million yuan were imposed. The number of on-site inspections of enterprises, the number of investigated violations, and the number of cases put on record and fined were more than twice those of the same period last year. A total of 69 cases suspected of environmental violations were strictly investigated and handled according to law, and 109 suspects were arrested. The law enforcement efforts achieved qualitative and quantitative breakthroughs, effectively deterring environmental violations.

From 2014 to 2016, the municipal finance provided a subsidy of 230 million yuan for the efficient treatment and renovation project of coal-fired boilers. Since 2016, a subsidy of 100,000 yuan per steam ton has been granted for the treatment and renovation of exhaust gas from coal-fired boilers. From the beginning of 2017 to the present, a total of 240 million yuan in subsidies has been issued, which is the sum of the previous three years (2016-2016). In 2018, an additional 350 million yuan will be invested to subsidize the ultra-low emission renovation of coal-fired boilers.

Note: There seems to be a typo in your original text, where the year range for the sum of the subsidies is written as "2016-2016". Assuming you meant to refer to a three-year period, I have kept the text as it is but clarified the possible typo in parentheses.

However, if we consider that the typo might have been intended as a single year (2016), the corrected version would be:

From 2014 to 2016, the city finance provided a subsidy of 230 million yuan for efficient coal-fired boiler treatment and renovation projects. Beginning in 2016, a subsidy of 100,000 yuan per steam ton was granted for the treatment and renovation of exhaust gas from coal-fired boilers. Since the beginning of 2017 to the present, a total of 240 million yuan in subsidies has been issued, which equals the total amount granted in 2016. In 2018, an additional 350 million yuan will be invested to subsidize the ultra-low emission renovation of coal-fired boilers.

Please let me know if you prefer the second version or if you have any other specific instructions for clarification.