North China's Hebei Province has pledged about 21 billion
yuan (US$2.8 billion) to cut pollutant emissions and build
environment monitoring stations around Beijing ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games.
The efforts to keep pollutants out of the capital include the
installation of 34 desulfurization systems in power plants,
construction of 23 central heating facilities in a bid to reduce
the use of coal, and 56 pollutant-curbing projects in the
province's chemical industries, according to Ji Zhenhai, director
of the provincial environment protection bureau.
The projects could reduce the annual emission of about 550,000
tons of sulfur dioxide, he said.
Meanwhile, Hebei has started building air quality monitoring
outposts in six major cities near Beijing, including provincial
capital Shijiazhuang, to collect data on emissions of sulfur
dioxide, nitrogen monoxide, carbon monoxide and other chemical
particles.
"We will take necessary action if the pollution indices fail to
meet required standards," Ji said.
"The environmental quality in Hebei is important for neighboring
Beijing, and the onus is also on us to ensure a clean Olympics," he
added.
Hebei has already lent a big hand to the host city for the 2008
Olympics by providing a new plant site for the Shougang steel
company, a major air polluter in Beijing.
The Olympics outlook, along with risks posed by a degraded
environment from decades of breakneck growth, has spurred the
province to improve the environment. By the end of last year, Hebei
had in place more than 500 water and air quality monitoring
stations.
The provincial government opened two phone hotlines for the
public to report ecology-damaging activities.
Provincial environment protection bureau figures show pollution
has decreased by about 24 percent since the 10th five-year plan
period (2001-2005), and increased the number of "blue sky"
days.
In order to ensure a clean environment for the Olympics, Beijing
has also been taking measures, including trial traffic bans,
increased tree planting and ordering its power plants to switch
from coal to gas.
Zhang Lijun, deputy director of the State Environmental
Protection Administration, has called for regional cooperation from
Beijing's neighbors, including Hebei, Shanxi, Tianjin and Inner
Mongolia to tackle the air pollution problem and contribute to a
clean Olympics.
(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2007)
