Beijing has done its utmost to provide a good image to the citizens of the world who will be attending the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games this August. Yes, there have been articles against China and against Beijing and against the government but these are starting to subside as the reality of the preparation of the games becomes apparent.

Beijing is deploying about 80 sniffer dogs to patrol the subway system to sniff out flammable products such as fireworks. Xinhua quotes police officer Wang Ning as saying, ‘the security patrol ahead of the festival will be good practice for the police dogs ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games later this year’. Eight dogs have already started patrolling five downtown stations.
A special monitoring centre for food safety will be set up for the Games. Zhang Zhikuan, head of the Beijing Municipal Bureau for Industry and Commerce said the Olympic Food Safety Command Center will issue warnings of food risks and deal with food related emergencies. Food to be provided for the Games will be classified into 345 items under 10 categories, with each item checked against specific technical standards.
Beijing has started enforcing a stricter auto fuel standard to help further reduce pollution. Gasoline and diesel sold in Beijing must meet the China IV standards equivalent to the European Union’s Euro IV requirements. Beijing introduced China III fuel standards at the end of 2005 which cut emissions by 2,480 metric tons annually, and the latest benchmark is intended to cut annual emissions by a further 1,840 tons.
Nearly every policeman, from new graduates to those close to retirement, is studying foreign languages and ‘refined’ manners hoping to polish the city’s image. A handbook containing useful phrases in seven languages — English, French, Russian, German, Japanese, Korean and Arabic — has been given to all police and state-approved volunteers who will assist security service forces at the Games.
Beijing police has launched a campaign to eradicate illegal activities in Tiananmen Square and along the Chang’an Avenue ahead of the Games. Beggars, unlicensed peddlers, those distributing flyers, and illegal motorcycle and tricycle taxi riders will be fined, detained, or have their equipment confiscated.

Source: Games Bids

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.

Zhang Xiaodong, director of transport at the Olympics, told a session  of the 14th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)  in Beijing that nearly 16,000 drivers and service personnel will keep more than 10,000 official Olympics vehicles running smoothly.

Nearly half of the 10,000 vehicles, all equipped with wireless communication devices, will exclusively serve Games events, while 2,200 shuttles and sponsors’ buses, as well as almost 2,000 rental vehicles, will be available for the Olympic community at large.

He said, ‘An integrated traffic control center with a transport operation center, seven sub-centers, and car teams set up by the Olympics transit stops and venues is to be formed.’

A similar three-layered, real-time command-and-control system will be adopted to monitor all Olympic venues, lanes and locations on a 24/7 basis.

Considerable challenges, however, remain. Nearly 5,000 members of the International Olympics Committee (IOC) and VIPs, over 12,000 athletes and team officials, 3,000 technical officials, more than 21,600 accredited media professionals, nearly 400,000 sponsors and guests, and over 100,000 staff are expected to attend the Games. They all have to be transported.

Beijing has initiated a series of drastic moves to encourage transit usage most of which involve moving people out of cars and on to subways. All the signs are it will very possibly work as planned with the odd hiccup here and there.
Source: People’s Daily Online

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