Beijing authorities are cranking up an "Olympic greening"
campaign by decorating roofs with gardens from next year.
The municipal government will finance the greening of 100,000
square meters of roofs next year, mainly in areas close to the 2008
Olympic facilities, the Capital International Airport and along the
second and third arterial ring roads, said Yang Zhihua, an official
with Beijing Municipal Gardening and Forestation Bureau.
"By the end of next year, passengers will see blocks of green
when their planes fly over the airport area," he said at an ongoing
training program on roof greening techniques, a four-day event that
has drawn more than 200 landscape workers nationwide.
About eight million square meters of grayish roofs in the
airport area made an ugly first impression on first-time travelers
to the Chinese capital, he added.
A satellite survey found 69 million square meters of barren
roofs within the Fourth Ring Road that encircles the busiest areas
of Beijing. Experts say at least 30 million square meters can be
covered with greenery.
Yang's bureau has started shortlisting roofs that can support
gardens.
"We'll select roofs that are highly waterproof and can support
at least 150 kilograms per square meter," he said.
Roofs that fail these standards will be painted more colorfully
and flat ones will be sloped to improve water run-off, according to
the bureau.
Between 2007 and 2010, the municipal government will allocate 10
million yuan (US$1.25 million) annually to finance the greening of
at least 100,000 square meters of roofs a year, said Qiang Jian,
vice director of the bureau.
He also called on local businesses, particularly real estate
developers, to contribute.
Beijing had 38,877 hectares of public green areas at the end of
2005, or 11 square meters per capita, which the city aims to expand
to 15 square meters by 2010.
(Xinhua News Agency November 16, 2006)