WARSAW, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The Warsaw municipality is set to approve a record 300 million zloty (79 million U.S. dollars) budget to combat smog, which was planned to be spent over the next four years, local media reported on Monday.
The budget, which, according to Polish portal Puls Biznesu, is expected to be approved at the next city council meeting, will be dedicated to financing the replacement of old coal-based stoves and connecting homes to district heating.
Rafal Trzaskowski, mayor of Warsaw, has said the city aimed to remove all old stoves in communal houses by 2021.
Money from the budget would also be spent on air quality monitoring including by drone, thermal insulation of buildings and support for poorer families to combat energy poverty. Rules for accessing city financing to replace boilers would be clarified.
The burning of poor quality coal or even trash in old household boilers is considered to be one of the main causes of smog in the Polish capital and elsewhere around the country.
According to the World Health Organisation, 33 out of the most polluted 50 cities in the EU are located in Poland. In many cities, the number of days when the average daily concentration of PM10 is above the limit exceeds one third of the year.