Beijing is considering banning 90% of private cars from its roads and closing more factories in a last-ditch bid to clear smoggy skies for the Olympics, state media reported on Monday.
With just 11 days to go before the start of the world’s biggest multi-sports event, Beijing was blanketed in a dense white haze on Monday that cut visibility in the city of 17-million down to just a few hundred metres.
Last week Beijing ordered more than a million cars from the roads and closed dozens of polluting factories but the effort has failed to remove the stubborn layer of unhealthy haze.
Acknowledging the failure of the initial car ban introduced on July 20, Beijing authorities are expected to announce more stringent emergency measures soon, the China Daily quoted the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau as saying.
One plan under consideration was to ban 90% of all private vehicles from the streets of the capital during the Games, the paper said.
The Beijing Olympic organising committee was unable to confirm the report.
”We are checking with relevant government departments,” said spokesperson Zhu Jing.
However, the China Daily quoted Li Xin, an official with the environmental bureau, as saying the plan would go into effect before the Games start.
”We will implement an emergency plan 48 hours in advance [of the Games] if the air quality deteriorates,” he was quoted as saying.
On Sunday Du Shaozhong, spokesperson for the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, acknowledged that tougher measures were needed to improve air quality one week after the ban on more than one million cars was introduced.
Du said the extra measures were ”under preparation” but gave no additional details, the report said.
”The air quality in Beijing must be improved. Seventy percent of the year the air is good, but for the remaining 30%, the air quality still does not meet the standard,” Du said.
International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge warned last year that poor air quality during the Games could result in the suspension of some events, particularly endurance races such as the marathon.
Under the car ban launched on July 20, cars with odd and even number plates are allowed on streets only on alternate days. Beijing had earlier taken 300 000 heavily-polluting vehicles off the road. – AFP
