Authorities in Heilongjiang province vowed on Monday to try to get rid of heavy pollution in 2017.

The pledge came after Harbin, the provincial capital, witnessed record air pollution in October, China News Service reported.

The province's environmental protection department said it will try harder to reduce air pollution and the concentration of PM10, particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter, by at least 5 percentage points in 2017.

It also set goals for each city in the province, with the minimum target of keeping the 2012 level of PM10 concentration and the maximum goal of reducing the concentration by 10 percentage points in 2017.

In mid-to-late October, Harbin saw its heaviest smog since 1965, its most serious air pollution on record.

Experts found that a sudden drop in temperature, along with heating being turned on in the province in October, slowed dispersion of pollutants and made concentration levels rise, the report said.