Beijing Olympics to be pollution free

Beijing: The 2008 Beijing Olympics will not be shrouded in smog or choked by traffic jams, the city's top Games official has promised.

"The problems that exist in Beijing, such as traffic jam and environmental pollution, are things we have to solve, whether we are hosting the Olympics or not," president of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Games of the Olympiad (BOCOG) Liu Qi said.

"Preparing for the Games should allow us bring solutions to these problems ahead of schedule," Liu, who is also secretary of the Communist Party's Beijing municipal committee, said.

With the two-year countdown to the 2008 Games beginning on Tuesday, Liu said he was confident air pollution and traffic jam would be tackled in time for the opening ceremony to be held on August 8, 2008.

Beijing, the Chinese capital, has improved the air quality in recent years and the situation is getting better and better, he claimed.

Statistics show the number of "blue sky" days last year when the air quality reached Grade II or better accounted for 64 per cent of the year.

This year's goal is 65 per cent, or 238 days.

"Due to the sand storms, we were 10 days down on last year's total number of "blue sky" days," he said. "But almost every day in July qualified so we've regained seven days."

After the sand storms, all the more than 9,000 construction sites in Beijing improved their management and today all construction sites' sand mounds are covered to avoid dust getting caught by the wind, he said.

"With these measures, I'm confident of reaching our goal of 238 'blue sky' days this year," he was quoted as saying by China Daily.

Liu also said about other measures being taken to reduce pollution in the city.

For example, Beijing Shougang Company's steel company moved out of the city in February and the Beijing Coking Plant, founded in 1958, stopped production last month.

Beijing city's industrial structure has been readjusted, with industrial production now only accounting for around 20 per cent of the capital's economy.

"In addition, we have taken great steps in improving the energy sources structure using clean energy sources like electricity and natural gas," he said.

As for automobile emissions, Beijing has adopted emission standards equivalent to the European III Emission Standard, and will even use the European IV standard in the future, he said.

The senior official also promised effective measures to solve the city's traffic jams.

It is estimated that during the Games there will be around 500,000 foreign visitors in Beijing with around 200,000 to 240,000 at the Olympic Green, at the centre of the Games venues.

Measures will be taken to provide efficient transport services for such a large amount of people, he said.

"Learning from other Olympic host cities, we will designate special transport routes for the Games and enforce extra traffic controls," Liu said, adding that Beijing will also modernise its transport management network.