Drive to clean up soil nationwide succeeding

With heavy metal pollution increasingly being curbed in agricultural areas, the country will be able to safely utilize at least 90 percent of its arable land by the end of 2020, senior environmental officials said on Friday.

More than 1,300 heavy metal-related enterprises have been shut down nationwide, and more than 900 projects to reduce discharge of the pollutants have been rolled out over the past three years, said Su Kejing, a director at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

"Emissions of heavy metal pollutants have been effectively curbed," Su said at a news conference.