The underlying reason for recent smoggy weather in many areas of the country is a series of problems caused by China's rapid industrialization and urbanization, said Wu Xiaoqing, a vice minister of environmental protection at a press conference in Beijing on Friday.

Several factors including high energy consumption, high emissions, heavy pollution and increasing numbers of vehicles on roads contributed to the frequent smoggy weather, particularly in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei Province and the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas, Wu said.

These areas accounts for 8 percent of the total territory of the country, but they represent 42 percent of the country's coal consumption and 52 percent in terms of gasoline and diesel, 55 percent of its steel consumption and 40 percent when it comes to cement, according to Wu. The sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and smoke discharged in these areas account for 30 percent of these emissions across the country, while pollutant emissions per square kilometer in these areas are five times higher on average than other areas.

"We have sacrificed a lot for our economic development model. If we don't changed this model, and adjust industrial structures and our backward methods of production and lifestyles, reducing smog and improving air quality will be very difficult," Wu said.

China will build more than 440 air monitoring stations in 116 cities this year. By the end of the year, nearly 950 monitoring spots will be put into use to release real-time statistics, according to Wu.

"We must insist on developing the economy while protecting environment to improve the quality and efficiency of our economic growth, adjust industry structures, expand domestic demand and optimize the methods of productivity," Wu said. "Only in this way can we transform our current economic model into an environmentally friendly one." 

The key problem is economic structures and development models, Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs in Beijing, told the Global Times.

"Local governments and developers have the final says in local affairs. To balance the interests of different groups, different sides including the public should be invited to have input on decisions."

This year, the ministry is urging government-supervised enterprises with serious pollution problems to publicly release their monitoring information on emissions, Wu said.