SHANGHAI is aiming to eliminate all high-polluting vehicles in the city and smaller coal-burning boilers in local factories by the end of the year, Zhang Quan, director of the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau, said yesterday.

The authority will also begin fighting pollution caused by ships using the city’s waterways, Zhang said after he arrived in Beijing ahead of the annual session of the National People’s Congress that begins on Thursday. Zhang is a national legislator.

“Though it is quite challenging, I have faith to achieve the target to cut the city’s PM2.5 density by 20 percent by 2017,” he said.