Beijing announced new restrictions for construction sites this week, disallowing work at times of strong winds in the hope of further improving local air quality.

Construction projects using materials like sand and soil should stop work when winds stronger than force four are blowing, according to the new regulation.

Experts consider the sand and soil used on Beijing's construction sites to be a major cause of dust in the air during windy weather, saying more than 40 percent of particles in a Beijing sandstorm came from local uncovered construction sites.

Following experts' advice, Beijing's municipal government revised a former regulation so that work will be stopped in winds of force four instead of force six, as it was before.

The local government also ordered construction projects to ensure that sand and soil are covered up properly.

Special inspection teams will pay random visits to construction sites in windy weather, and those that do not abide by the regulation will be severely punished or even shut down.

Sixty-two vehicles began spraying water along major roads in Beijing recently in an attempt to keep down the amount of dust in the air.

Beijing is currently drafting more environmentally-friendly regulations, which are expected to further help improve air quality in the capital city.

In another development, the China Central Meteorological Observatory will release trial air quality forecasts for major cities every day starting in April. In the past, the observatory only provided information about the air quality of previous days.

Qin Dahe, director of the State-run observatory, said the air quality forecasts would brief people in 47 major domestic cities about expected air conditions in the following 24 hours.

"Based on air conditions of the previous day and the movement of winds and air currents, we can predict air conditions, at least in general,'' Qin said.

The new air quality forecast system will officially begin operation on July 5 if the trial forecasts go well.

(China Daily 03/29)