Joint efforts to ensure air quality for Beijing Olympics

(BEIJING, February 21) -- Beijing and its neighboring provinces have worked out a joint program to ensure the air quality for the Games of the 29th Olympiad, a Beijing official was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

Because the elements of the atmosphere in and around Beijing react reciprocally, a synchronized control of pollutants by neighboring areas is necessary, said Du Shaozhong, vice director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau for Environmental Protection.

According to the measures agreed upon by Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Shandong, the areas to be controlled and managed include dust raising, gas emissions from motor vehicles, and industrial and coal-burning pollution. During the Olympics, some motor vehicles in Beijing will be removed from the roads; construction sites will be asked to stop polluting work processes; and the key enterprises will be requested to limit emissions. Tianjin and parts of Hebei Province will also take emission-cutting measures, Du said.

A coordination scheme to fight pollution by the six geographical areas has been set up and key steps have been taken. For instance, by the end of 2007, 75 percent of desulfurizing capacities had been established; over 70 percent of high-energy-consuming and polluting industries such as cement and small coke and steel factories had been eliminated; Old-fashioned vehicles had been eliminated from Beijing and Tianjin, with Beijing practicing the China IV emission standards ahead of time.

In fact, Beijing launched an unprecedented trans-provincial comprehensive air pollution monitoring project in 2006 to obtain data on pollutant formation. An analysis of the data can help understand the impact of the pollutant movement on the air quality in Beijing. Using apparatus-carrying airplanes or pilotless planes, the monitoring network looks into the pollutants at spheres 600m, 1,500m and 2,000m above ground for Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Shanxi.

Specialists are confident that the air quality in Beijing would meet the national standards and honor the Olympic bid pledge on environmental protection, thanks to stricter control of pollutants, the synchronized efforts of other provinces and new measures to be taken during the Games.