Fears remain over polluted air and congested roads
With 200 days to go to the opening of the Olympics, the Beijing government faces the herculean task of cleaning up the city's polluted air and reining in its chaotic traffic.
Beijing's acting mayor Guo Jinlong, in a report to about 770 deputies to the 13th Beijing People's Congress, vowed yesterday to increase preparations for the upcoming Olympic Games to a 'high level' .
The capital, notorious for air pollution and traffic jams, is under enormous domestic and international pressure to clean up its skies and roads in time for the Games in August.
A tough plan, formulated by a government-led panel after repeated revisions in mid-October, includes removing a large number of private vehicles from the roads, boosting public transport with a new north-south subway line and slashing public transport fares.
'Beijing will enact the strictest standards for pollutant emissions this year. We will put in place rules to reduce construction site dust and ban coal burning in the outskirts,' Mr Guo said.
He called for Olympics facilities such as the National Stadium to be completed on schedule. He also urged that associated infrastructure projects such as the expansion of the Beijing Capital International Airport, the Beijing South Railway and several subways and expressways be completed before the Games.
