Officials give updates on the air quality, transport and cultural heritage

Scene of the press conference

(BEIJING, April 10) -- Over the past 10 years, Beijing has implemented more than 200 measures across 13 phases aimed at environmental protection, and the city continues to actively control pollution from coal, motor vehicles, industry and particles, said Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, on Wednesday at a press conference where he spoke gave an update on Beijing's efforts to curb pollution.

Wang Hui, director of the BOCOG Media and Communications Department

Comparing statistics in 2007 with those from 1998, the detection of criteria pollutants was down across the board: 60.8% less sulfur dioxide (S02), 39% less carbon monoxide (CO), 10.8% less nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and 17.8% less inhalable particulates. The annual average concentration of SO2¬, CO and NO2 now meet national standards, and the number of days with air quality meeting grade two or better increased by 40%, from 100 days to 246 days.

Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau

Beijing and five neighboring provinces and municipalities will implement measures to manage and control dust and pollution from motor vehicles, industry and coal in advance of the Olympics. And during the Olympics, Beijing will limit the number of cars on roads, halt processes that cause pollution at construction sites and heavily restrict pollution by enterprises; Tianjin and parts of Hebei province will also adopt temporary measures to reduce pollution.

Li Jianguo, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications

Public transit

Li Jianguo, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications, gave an update on transportation and future plans. Of the four Olympic-related subway lines, Line 5 is already in operation, and the first phase of Line 10, the Olympic Branch Line and the Airport Line are to begin operating at the end of June, he said.

Full mobile phone reception will be available on all Beijing Subway lines. He emphasized that the low fare of 2 yuan would not change in the near future.

In terms of air transport, Terminal 3 of Capital International Airport has begun operating and will enable airport passenger throughput to increase from 36 million to 76 million.

The Olympic Transportation Command Center has made progress with setting up Olympic traffic routes and road signs for the Games and is actively making preparations to ensure that public transport and general transportation will operate smoothly.