A policeman wears a face mask while directing traffic on Dec. 9, 2015, in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province of China. (Photo : Getty Images)
Taiyuan once used to be the only metropolis in China with an atmosphere much fouler than it is in Beijing today. However, China's natural coal mine has taken recent initiatives to clean up its act and restore the glorious blue skies back to the city.
Bloomberg reports that the city of Taiyuan in China sits atop 270 billion tons of coal reserves. Given its richness in natural resources, the industrial city has a swarming population of over 4.3 million. The city's industrial character is much owed to the surrounding coal fields in the Shanxi Province.
The government has told coal-fired plants to install scrubbers. Moreover, it has taken measures on reducing vehicles that heavily pollute the environment, banning farmers from burning straw and regulating barbecue stands.
But the biggest initiative ever taken by any government unfolded just recently. Taiyuan became the first city to replace its massive fleet of taxis with electric vehicles. CCTV reported that the project cost the government $120 million just on the distribution of vehicles.
Another $19 million has been poured for establishing a proper nexus of 1,800 charging stations to keep the cars up and running. The new initiative expects to slow down the economy due to its policy of preserving the natural coal reserves of the country for future use. This has had adverse effects on local citizens who relied more on coal. An abrupt shift in the coal market will take some time to get used to.
Due to these policies, the coal industry is amidst of crisis. According to the Xinhua News Agency, the total debt stemming from Chinese top coal producers has risen to 3.66 trillion yuan. This means that the country needs to lay off around 1.3 million coal workers to trim down overcapacity.
The economic lapse has been profoundly beneficial for Taiyuan's earlier polluted situation. The city's pollution rankings dropped down significantly. Air quality has improved by a good 18 percent in only the first half of 2016 when the new electric taxis were rolled on to the streets.
The government's ambitions are not completely catered to just as yet. President Xi Jinping wants to see 12,000 charging stations which will accommodate at least five million electric vehicles expected to be unleashed onto China's roads by 2020.
