China takes action to ensure top air quality

Source: Agencies/Shanghai Daily  |   2008-8-1  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge arrives at the Beijing Hotel yesterday. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will kick off with the opening ceremony next Friday. More in photo gallery

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CHINA has announced a raft of emergency measures in and around Beijing in case of serious air pollution during the Olympic Games, including taking more cars off the roads and slashing production at more than 220 factories.

Once the Games begin with next Friday's opening ceremony, Beijing and neighboring Tianjin and four cities in Hebei Province will all have emergency plans in place.

Increased curbs on cars and factories would occur in any 48-hour period if air quality was forecast to be short of acceptable standards due to extremely unfavorable weather, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on its Website yesterday.

The government has already cleared about half the capital's 3.3 million cars from its streets - by restricting vehicles with odd or even licence plate numbers on alternate days - and temporarily closed factories dozens of kilometers away.

According to the latest plan, in addition to the odd-and-even number system, cars with a last digit matching the last digit of the day's date will also be banned from the road.

The odd-and-even system would be extended to Tianjin and the cities of Zhangjiakou, Chengde, Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Langfang and Tangshan in Hebei.

Work on all building sites would be suspended in Beijing and 105 more electronic, chemical, furniture and construction-material factories in the city would halt production, or the part of the production process that emitted pollutants, the statement said.

In Tianjin, 56 more coal-fueled power firms, coal-fired heating projects, building-material, electric and chemical factories would suspend production in case of unfavorable air quality.

In Hebei the number will be 61 and small steel plants will have to cut production significantly, according to the statement.