Urumqi makes massive investment to clean dirty air

Urumqi will invest 5 billion yuan ($731 million) to clean up wintertime pollution this year, Li Zhi, Party secretary of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region' capital, said.

The money will be spent on pollution control and infrastructure construction, Li, who is also a delegate to the ongoing Second Session of the National Committee of the 11th National People's Congress, said.

The 2009 input alone will equal the total sum the city had spent on the 'blue sky mission' - a project curbing Urumqi's air pollution - in the past few years.