Central government: 5b yuan reward for reducing pollution

All allocated by year's end based on local performance

The Ministry of Finance announced on Monday it will offer rewards totaling 5 billion yuan ($819.5 million) at the end of this year to Beijing municipality and surrounding regions if they are successful in curbing air pollution.

Beijing and Tianjin along with Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong provinces and Inner Mongolia autonomous region are eligible for the special fund. Their local governments signed an agreement in mid-September to meet a series of environmental targets in the next five years.