Five provincial-level jurisdictions surrounding Beijing have
pledged to join the capital's effort to ensure clean air for the Olympic Games?in August.
The provinces of Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong, as well as the
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Tianjin Municipality will
conduct "comprehensive cooperation" with the Beijing municipal
government to ensure good air quality during the Games, Zhou
Shengxian, the director of the State Environment Protection
Administration said.
Xinhua reported the administration had already drawn up five
requirements to improve air quality in the capital, including
"strict control" of dust at construction sites and purification of
oil exhaust at restaurants.
Polluting factories would be asked to relocate while outdated
equipment should be upgraded.
Beijing has already moved 167 polluting factories to the suburbs
or remote areas over the past several years.
Beijing once had 16,000 coal-consuming boilers that spewed a
large amount of dust and carbon monoxide but 15,000 have been
upgraded.
The Beijing municipal government has also encouraged residents
to take public transport or ride bicycles during the Games and
plans to restrict the heavy traffic flow.
The Beijing government may use a traffic ban in which vehicles
with even and odd-numbered license plates would be told to stay off
the roads on alternate dates. About 1.3 million cars were banned
from city streets between August 17 and 20 last year, which cut the
amount of discharged pollutants by 5815.2 tons.
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(Shanghai Daily February 13, 2008)