China begins Olympic car test

Beijing is carrying out a four-day experiment ahead of the Olympics to see if taking cars off the city's streets will reduce air pollution.Air quality is emerging as the biggest problem facing the Beijing Olympics next August. The smog is so bad that some countries have said they will not send their teams to the Chinese capital until the last minute.International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge has said that some endurance events at next year's Games might have to be postponed if the air quality is not good enough.Officials said it would take some time to judge the impact of the measures. From 6:00 am until midnight on Friday and Sunday, drivers with an even final digit on their licence plate face fines if they take to the city roads. Odd-numbered cars will be banned on Saturday and Monday.The city is also closing down its worst-polluting factories and switching thousands of homes from coal to gas use.Beijing's car tally hit the 3 million mark in May and more than 1,000 more are registered every day, clogging up the roads and pumping out nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and particulate matter into the atmosphere.Du Shaozhong, spokesman for Beijing's environmental protection bureau, said: "The traffic restrictions will definitely reduce vehicle pollutants and will work effectively."The exact evaluation of the facts of the transportation control will not be released until relevant data is collected and analysed by the experts."Mr Du added: "Today's air quality is National Standard Grade 2 - Grades 1 and 2 are suitable for any activity."But an air pollution expert at the World Health Organisation said people with heart problems should think twice about visiting Beijing as they could face "serious problems" because of the pollution.Dr Michal Krzyzanowski said he doubted there would be much improvement in the city's air quality by Games' time and that the car control measures might not have too great an effect."Particles have the ability of travelling thousands of kilometres in the air," he said."So it's possible the beneficial effect of cutting the traffic in the city will be compensated by the transport of pollution from other parts of China."© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

ITN | August 17, 2007

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