EASTERN China’s Shandong Province has unveiled new targets to cut steel and coal production capacity, eliminate outdated aluminum smelters and change to cleaner energy as part of a broader nationwide anti-pollution push.

In a three-year action plan released Friday, Shandong’s Environmental Protection Bureau said it would cut pig iron production capacity by 600,000 tons and crude steel by 3.55 million tons by the end of this year.

Coal production capacity would be cut from 156 million tons to 140 million tons by 2020, it said.

The bureau said more than 70 percent of heating provided in the winter months to rural areas would be derived from clean energy sources by 2020.

As part of efforts to transition away from coal in energy production, the bureau said it would increase imports of natural gas from other provinces. It said it would target the proportion of LNG consumption to reach around 8 percent by 2020.

Transportation of coal from the provincial ports of Qingdao, Yantai and Rizhao would be switched to rail or waterways by the end of this year, while iron ore, coke and other heavy commodities would be mainly transported via rail before the summer of 2020.

The bureau also said it would accelerate plans for major aluminum smelters including Shandong Weiqiao, a unit of China Hongqiao Group, the world’s top producer of the metal, and Xinfa Group to complete the construction of its exclusive use railway lines for their freight.

(SD-Agencies)