Beijing municipal leaders on March 17 mapped out a task list scheduled for eco-environment construction in 2017 on air pollution and water environment treatment, landscaping and removing illegal construction.

This year Beijing will cut coal consumption by 3 million tons to 7 million tons or less, including replacing coal with clean energy in 700 villages, in efforts to control annual average concentration of PM2.5 at about 60 micrograms/cubic meters.

In water environment governance in urban and rural areas, the city will eliminate black and odorous water citywide and cover the areas that have been built in the sub-center with the sewage pipe network and disposal system by the end of 2017.

In landscaping sector, 600 hectares of greenbelt will be paved and 15 leisure parks will be built. The city sub-center will also see 1,800 hectares of greenery to be added and 3,000 hectares to be upgraded.

With respect to traffic management, Beijing will phase in 100 projects to tackle this issue including building 90 more bypasses in six urban districts and increasing the rail transit length by 30 kilometers. Forty kilometers of bus lanes are also planned, joined by a program for 600 kilometers of bikeways. Public sharing bicycle services will be promoted with regulations.

According to Vice Mayor Sui Zhenjiang, 30 million square meters of illegal construction have been torn down over 2016. This year a total removal of 40 million square meters has been targeted to see to it that there would be no more emerging violations.