Beijing battles pollution

The data, released hourly on the centre’s website and micro blog, “is provided to better serve the residents of the capital”, said Zhao Yue, deputy director of the centre.

Residents generally hailed the move, but some said more needs to be done.

“It is undoubtedly a step forward,” said Wang Bao, 27, a physical education teacher at a primary school in northern Beijing’s Changping district.

However, Wang said he cared more about how the government works to curb the pollution.

Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a non-government organisation, said hourly figures help improve the transparency of the environment watchdogs. “The move respects citizens’ right to know.”

Readings for more pollutants will be announced after stricter air-quality standards are adopted in the future, Zhao said.

She did not elaborate, but the new readings might include the level of PM 2.5.

These particles could be comparatively more hazardous to people’s health, causing breathing problems. They are also believed to be the cause of smog.

According to the centre, Beijing will set up more than two dozen monitoring stations to detect the density of PM 2.5 before Spring Festival, which falls on January 23. That will be ahead of the national schedule of 2016.

Beijing residents have long been dissatisfied with the official air-quality figures, saying they fail to reflect how residents feel.

People urged the government to adopt PM 2.5 testing because it insisted that the air was “slightly polluted” – a conclusion based on PM 10 figures – although heavy smog has shrouded Beijing continually since October.

Residents also complained that authorities failed to explain why air quality differs significantly between southern and northern Beijing.

When severe smog grounded more than 100 flights on Tuesday, the highest density of inhalable particles in the southern and central city was between 300 and 560 micrograms a cubic meter, while the figure in the north was between 30 and 80.

The city’s environmental protection bureau said it hasn’t worked out a comparison of the northern and southern part of the city.

But Ma said the northern part is home to many universities and hospitals, and hence is less polluted by industrial waste and vehicular exhaust.

Beijing has set a goal to recycle 150,000 old cars that cause heavy air pollution and replace coal-fired boilers with clean energy to provide heating, Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong said. 

He stressed that Beijing will try to solve the air pollution problem with “greater determination, more effective measures and higher standards”.

The municipal government will allocate 2.1 billion yuan (US$332.4 million) to tackle air pollution and other work related to energy conservation and emissions reduction, according to a public spending budget released by the Beijing Finance Bureau on Thursday.

Lee Yuk Lun, chairman and CEO of the Hong Kong-based Rising Development Holdings, who is also a delegate to the Beijing Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, urged the authorities to charge environmental protection fees on vehicles to dampen people’s enthusiasm for buying cars.

There were about 5 million cars in Beijing as of the end of 2011, Beijing Daily reported without citing the source.

“Whenever you walk on the streets in Beijing, you can see cars emitting dark gas and a strong smell. Cars are responsible for about 50 per cent of the harmful particles in the air,” Lee wrote.

Pang Hong, a member from the Hong Kong and Macao Delegation, proposed a “green travel plan”.

Pang said he plans to donate about 7,000 bicycles to all universities in the capital city, which will encourage college students to ride bikes instead of driving cars on campus.