Beijing will gradually replace diesel-powered vehicles with new energy ones to transport construction materials such as sand and gravel as part of the city's efforts to curb air pollution, local authorities said Thursday.
Almost all of the construction material in Beijing is transported by diesel-powered vehicles to the capital, which has caused exhaust pollution, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
The latest statistics in 2018 showed that about two-thirds of the capital's PM 2.5 sources were local while mobile vehicles accounted for 45 percent of the local sources for the air pollutant. Of all vehicles, diesel-powered ones contributed the largest share.
Beijing's building industry will become "greener" in the future. Sources with the commission said that Beijing will build ten construction material production bases in neighboring areas, each of which will produce 10 million tonnes of sand and gravel every year to meet the demand of Beijing's market.
In 2018, railway transportation began to be used in Beijing to gradually replace the highway transportation of construction material.
Four sand and gravel cargo stations will be built in the districts of Pinggu, Shunyi, Changping, and Daxing. In addition, new energy vehicles will be employed to transport construction materials from the stations to construction companies and sites. In the future, diesel-powered vehicles used for transporting sand and gravel will be banned from the city proper, said the sources.
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