Air quality in Beijing in the first half of August met the standards required
to host the Olympic Games, according to city officials.
Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Municipal Bureau of Environmental
Protection told a press conference last week that air quality had been the best
for any summer in the last ten years.
According to the state-owned Xinhua News Agency, the city's air quality fell
into the top two brackets of the Chinese air quality monitoring system between
August 1 and 18.
"Of the 18 days, Beijing reported grade I air quality in nine days, and in the
other nine days, the air quality was grade II," Mr Shaozhong told journalists
last week.
He added: "These figures prove that measures to improve air quality for the
Beijing Games, particularly the temporary measures to cut emissions, have been
playing a positive role."
In the Chinese air quality monitoring system, grade I is excellent, with an air
pollution index reading from 1 to 50, while grade II is fairly good, with a
reading from 51 to 100.
Figures released by the bureau at the weekend said air quality had remained in
these two brackets until the final days of the Games.
Before the Beijing Olympics, the city had taken drastic measures to try to curb
the air pollution. The municipal government had invested more than 140bn yuan
(US$20.5bn) on more than 200 air quality projects since 1998.
Schemes included ordering about two-thirds of the city's 3.3m cars off the road
on alternate days based on their number plates from July 20 (see related
story).
These regulations are set to remain in place until September 20, after the
Paralympic Games finish.
There are now plans to continue some of the other measures beyond September,
such as accelerating the removal and treatment of heavy-polluting vehicles and
stepping up plans to reduce construction site dust, according to a report from
China Daily.
Mr Shaozhong is reported to have told a news conference at the weekend:
"Although the Olympic Games will end soon, the environmental challenges we face
are by no means over."
=============================================================
Algerian PM congratulates China on Beijing Olympics
Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia Tuesday expressed his congratulations to
China on the just-ended Beijing Olympic Games.
Beijing has succeeded in hosting the grand sports event, Ouyahia said at a
meeting with Wang Jun, former chairman of the China CITIC Group, and some other
leaders of Chinese enterprises.
He also voiced his satisfaction with an expressway project, whose
contractors include a consortium of CITIC and the China Railway Construction
Corp.
The Algerian government welcomes more Chinese enterprises' participation in
the economic construction and investment in the country, Ouyahia said.
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