In a wonderful example of national co-operation several provinces near Beijing are going all out to help ensure blue skies for the host city of next summer’s Olympic Games.

The local governments of Hebei, Shandong and Shanxi provinces, Tianjin Municipality and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have worked out measures to improve air quality for the Olympic Games.

The provincial government of coal-rich Shanxi published its measures last week, ordering that all desulfurization projects at major coal-fired power plants be completed before July 1 next year.

Businesses in heavily-polluting industries — power, iron and steel, chemical and concrete — will have to cut production or even close if they fail to meet the emission standards during the games. In addition, all vehicles traveling to Beijing from Shanxi must comply with Europe II emission standards from July 25 to Sept. 20, 2008.

Similar moves will also be taken in Shandong, which discharged 1.96 million tons of sulfur dioxide last year, the most among the mainland’s 31 provincial-level regions.

The Laicheng Power Plant of Huadian Power in Shandong’s Laiwu City began a desulfurization project on two 300,000-kw generation units in late October with an investment of RMB140 million (US$18.9 million). Originally, the project was scheduled for completion in 2009.

Environmental authorities in Hebei, which surrounds Beijing and Tianjin, have pledged to spend about RMB21 billion on anti-pollution projects and environmental monitoring stations.
Source: People’s Daily Online

Beijing’s contingency plans to battle pollution for the 2008 Olympics are based on extensive scientific study and will prove effective in providing clean air for the Games, a senior adviser to the organisers said.

Dr Sarah Liao, a scientist and former minister in the Hong Kong government, is also convinced the environmental commitments she helped draw up for the host city bid in 2001 will result in a lasting legacy for the whole of China.

Dr Liao said, ‘It’s not just something you pull out of your hat. This list was constructed through very extensive scientific study, they have asked Tsinghua and Peking Universities to model on various meteorological scenarios.

‘They have gone through an extensive study. They are getting the data from the trials and going back to validate the models. We will fulfill our original bid commitment, namely to meet Chinese and pre-2005 World Health Organisation standards on air quality.’

Beijing has invested RMB120 billion ($16.22 billion) in environmental programs and Paolo Revellino, author of a United Nations Environmental Program report, has said he thought the work Beijing had done in bridging the gap to developed nations was ‘astounding’.

Dr Sarah Liao said, ‘In a nutshell there has been great improvement in air, water, waste, ozone depleting substances and the greening of Beijing. They have set things in track that will never turn back.’

Aspects that pleased Dr Liao most were that Beijing had leapfrogged to much higher standards in areas such as vehicle emissions and that environmental considerations now had to be taken into account in any new projects in the city. This will be part of the legacy of the Games.
Source: Guardian

Olympic host city Beijing has ruled out any limits on the number of private cars allowed on the Chinese capital’s notoriously congested and polluted streets.

A top transport official said Beijing, whose air pollution and traffic jams are key concerns of the International Olympic Committee, will not follow the lead of Shanghai.

Liu Xiaoming, deputy head of Beijing’s transportation committee said, ‘Instead, we will encourage citizens to use their cars more rationally and sparingly.’
Liu was quoted as saying the city would concentrate on promoting use of a revamped public transport system so that ‘car owners will willingly give up driving’.

In fairness, the city of 17 million opened a major new subway line last month and slashed fares to encourage ridership. A new light-rail line connecting downtown Beijing with the city’s airport also is set to open before the August 2008 Olympics.

Beijing had 3.08 million registered motor vehicles as of August, an average of one for every two families and the number of cars is expected to continue to soar as the city booms.

About 90% of Beijing’s roads are currently operating at full capacity with little room for expansion. The chances of citizens willingly giving up their cars are the equivalent of a plastic cat walking through hell carrying a red hot shovel.

In London it has been proved beyond doubt or debate that they ONLY way to get the traffic down is by legal mandate and serious financial impositions.

In most of Europe the pedestrianisation of the cities has slowed the march of cars.

It has been shown by the City of London that cars always expand to take the space available. Good subways, a wonderful start. Banning cars, however, it the only way to make sure it works. This is a decision that everyone will live to regret. And regret bitterly.
Source: AFP

It matters not what international newspaper or wire report you get pretty much the same conclusion — construction work for the Olympics will be finished in time.

Kevan Gosper, vice president of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) coordination commission, said ‘We are very happy with the progress. They are right on schedule with the construction.’

The main stadium, the Bird’s Nest, which will hold 91,000 spectators will be complete by the end of March next year.
The neighboring water sports complex, the ‘water cube,’ as well as the other facilities are expected to completed by the end of this year.

The plan may sound very ambitious, but the organizers are confident that the schedule can be kept.
Sun Weijia, chief of media operations at the organizing committee said, ‘It can be done. The workers labour in shifts around the clock, seven days per week.’

The media interest in the Games is a record in itself. Some 5,600 journalists and photographers were accredited by the IOC to cover the events.

On transport Beijing’s mayor Wang Qishan saw the inauguration of a new 27-kilometer subway line as ‘a sign of our determination to give priority to the development of the city’s public transport infrastructure.’ By next year, the subway lines will be extended from the current 142 kilometres to 200 kilometres to provide access to all Olympic sports facilities.

The organisers have also received accolades for the athlete’s accommodations.

Gerd Graus, an official German observer of the proceedings said, ‘The athletes will be more than pleased with the Olympic Village, which offers nice rooms with ample space and good comfort.’

Are there any problems?

The weather and the smog. The IOC has voiced concerns about the expected hot and humid weather that typically prevails in Beijing in August, as well as the smog.

Road traffic restriction trials in August this year only slightly improved the air pollution, but at least resulted in much better traffic flow.

Kevan Gosper is convinced that the measures, if rigorously maintained during the Games, will help to alleviate the otherwise daily traffic congestion. He said, ‘I don’t foresee any problems with transportation.

Caijing magazine is an indispensable Chinese publication, conveniently now with an English-language website. Its Chinese name means economics and finance. Its editor, Hu Shuli, is one of the most influential women in China and is as brave as a lion. The business press in China has considerable latitude. She uses it.

In the latest issue: news on the ‘can Beijing possibly clear up its air before the Olympics?’ question. The magazine interviews Zhao Fengtong, vice mayor of Beijing with responsibility for traffic and related issues. The Asian Wall Street Journal has an English version of the full interview — Caijing’s English site has only a summary.

Zhao Fengtong discusses the recent experiment of banning half of Beijing’s cars from the streets for two days, to see what difference it made.

During the four days of experimentation, the entire city saw a decrease of 1.31 to 1.36 million vehicles on the road. This produced immediate results in air-quality improvement. The scientific information obtained from this provided a scientific basis on which to improve and perfect measures to guarantee Beijing’s air quality for the 29th Olympics. He is confident that there will be good air quality during the 2008 Olympics.
Source: Cajing