Despite the prevalent and severe smog pollution in Beijing, the municipal Environmental Protection Bureau has claimed that the air quality will be greatly improved by 2020 with the blue skies being a mainstay by 2030.

"The fundamental change (of the air quality) should take a certain period of time," Zhang Dawei, director of the municipal environmental monitoring center, recently said.

Compared to 2014, PM2.5 during the last year declined by 6.2 percent as the air quality over 186 days tested acceptable, announced the Environmental Protection Bureau on Monday.

The density of the three major pollutants, namely, SO2, NO2 and PM10, in addition to PM2.5, slumped by 38.1 percent, 11.8 percent and 12.3 percent respectively in 2015.

However, the condensed pollution during the last two months, which lasted 22 days in 2015, resulted in the public's grim concern regarding the harmful air quality.

The policies launched for the improvement of air quality require the local government officials to be engaged in the reduction of smog by controlling coal burning, setting limits on the number of vehicles, planning the relocation of redundant populations and filtering floating dust.

Spending over two years combating air pollution, the government has concluded that certain measures are necessary to counteract the deterioration of air quality. This year, they will focus on the improvement of the sources of air pollution, such as, rural families' coal burning practices, vehicles with high emissions and the chaotic conditions of urban-rural border areas.

However, the bureau also estimates that air pollution cannot disperse without the concerted efforts of society as a whole. For example, the overhaul of industrial structures, the application of clean natural resources and a change in lifestyle must develop into long-term trends.

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