Pollution goals to get rigorous assessments

China will strengthen supervision of the government's air pollution control efforts and require the timely release of city assessment data, according to the second draft of new regulations.

Only 16 of the country's 161 major cities reached the national standards on air quality last year, statistics from the Ministry of Environmental Protection show.

The standards require cities to improve assessments of their performance on air pollution and strengthen the role of assessments in achieving short-term pollution abatement goals, according to a report by the legal committee of the National People's Congress, the top legislative body.