Beijing plans to issue pollution alerts that will warn residents
to avoid certain areas of the city on days when the air is heavily
polluted, said the environment protection bureau.
The city also intends to close factories and construction sites
when the air becomes heavily polluted, said an official with the
municipal environment protection bureau on Wednesday.
Shi Hanmin, director of the municipal environment protection
bureau, said that more needs to be done to improve the air quality
of Beijing, which is still below national standards, short of
commitments made in its Olympic bid and not up to the expectations
of residents.
The municipality had 241 'blue sky days' in 2006, exceeding the
government's target by three days.
This year the target is 245 blue sky days. "We are faced with a
very hazardous environmental situation," said Shi.
Sulfur dioxide emissions dropped 7.9 percent in Beijing last
year, while the municipal GDP grew by 12 percent in 2006.
Beijing launched the "Defending the Blue Sky" program in 1998,
when the city had only about 100 days of 'blue sky' days. Since
then, air quality has improved for eight straight years, due to
measures taken by the environment watchdog and the "mercy of
nature".
Beijing has taken the lead in China to impose Euro-III car
emission standards, but exhaust fumes emitted by its 2.8 million
motor vehicles, including two million private cars, remains one of
the primary sources of pollution in the capital.
Shi told Xinhua that 300,000 high-emission vehicles will be
taken off the roads in 2007.
(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2007)
