Beijing’s Olympic shutdown begins today, a drastic plan to lift the Chinese capital’s gray shroud of pollution just three weeks ahead of the Games.
Half of the city’s 3.3 million vehicles will be pulled off the roads and many polluting factories will be shuttered. Chemical plants, power stations and foundries left open have to cut emissions by 30 percent and dust-spewing construction in the capital will be halted.
In a highly stage-managed Olympics, aimed at showing off China’s rising power in the 21st century, no challenge is greater than producing crystalline air for 10,500 of the world’s greatest athletes.
“Pea-soup air at the opening ceremony would be their worst nightmare,” said Victor Cha, director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University.
Striking venues and US$40 billion spent to improve infrastructure cannot mask Beijing’s dirty air. A World Bank study found China has 16 of the 20 worst cities for air quality. Three-quarters of the water flowing through urban areas is unsuitable for drinking or fishing.
International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge has repeatedly warned that outdoor endurance events lasting more than an hour will be postponed if the air quality is poor.
Under the two-month plan, vehicles will be allowed on the roads every other day depending on even-odd registration numbers. In addition, 300,000 heavily polluting vehicles — aging industrial trucks, many of which operate only at night — were banned beginning July 1.
Five days after today’s traffic ban goes into effect, special Olympic traffic lanes will begin operating until Sept. 25. This plan has been used in previous games. Beijing is setting aside 265km of roadway on which certified Olympic vehicles will be allowed to move from hotels, Olympic venues and the Athletes’ Village.
To further ease congestion, employers are being asked to stagger work schedules. Public institutions will open an hour later than normal.
Two new subway lines and an airport rail link that opened yesterday should also bring relief. All three lines were a month late in completion.
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