Beijing Games chief Liu Qi says despite the huge investment already made the city needs to step up work on reducing pollution if it is to deliver a "Green Olympics" in 2008. Liu, president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), said he was confident that traffic would not be a problem by the time the Games open two years on Tuesday but more needed to be done to improve the notorious air quality in the Chinese capital.

"There is still a distance from our goal of Green Olympics so we have to step up our efforts in the next two years," Liu, a former mayor of Beijing, said in an interview with Chinese media reported by state news agency Xinhua. A shift from coal to gas in millions of homes is just one of the measures already in place, measures that Chinas Environmental Protection Administration says have cost 100 billion yuan (12.5 billion dollars).

In addition, the state-owned steel producer Shougang is being moved away from the west of Beijing while work has been suspended at the Beijing Chemical Works. "It was a bitter but important decision," said Liu, whose background is in iron and steel manufacture. Liu said improvements in the citys infrastructure were already making inroads into congestion problems.

"We have already made progress in unlocking traffic jams thanks to efforts that include expanding public transportation and building new highways to the citys suburbs," he said. "We are also considering strengthening traffic control during the Games time, such as instituting special lanes." "I am confident that traffic wont be a concern in August 2008," he added. Otherwise, Liu believes the city is well on schedule to fulfill its commitments.

"Our preparatory work is progressing very well as planned," he said. "Beijing s conditions are almost ripe for the Olympic Games." "Twelve brand-new venues are all under construction, and by the end of this year we will start renovation of all the existing venues." "By the end of next year, all competition venues will be in place for the test events." The first test event in Beijing for the 2008 Games will start later this month when the softball world championship takes place at the Fengtai venue.
(Planet Ark, 06/08/2006)