Beijing: Bidding hard for the 2022 Winter Games, China plans to launch “Olympic Blue” campaign to rid Beijing and its surroundings of the heavy pollution which officials say could hurt its chances to host the prestigious event. Officials say they could turn the city “Olympic Blue” – free from pollution – the way they have done with “APEC Blue” during last year’s APEC summit, drastically improving the city’s air by shutting down hundreds of factories in an around Beijing.
As 2008 Summer Olympics host and a candidate for 2022 Winter Olympics, Beijing will have to take tough measures to ensure the success of ‘Olympic Blue’, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Air pollution, which had haunted the city for quite a long time, was believed to be one of the major problems hurting Beijing’s chance, it said.”We will try our best for the bid,” said Wang Anshun, president of Beijing 2022 Winter Games Bid Committee. Beijing started a five-year plan to clean the air in 2013. The city aims to cut the PM2.5 density by 20 per cent by 2017.
PM 2.5 refers to airborne particulates with a diameter small enough to deeply penetrate the lungs. It will be a daunting task for the Chinese capital as it usually took decades for many countries to reach similar goals. Hebei is also on a similar path. The province, famous for the iron and steel industry, has been cutting back on the use of coal and heavy-polluting trucks.
In 2015, Hebei has initiated a three-year plan to reduce the amount of pollutants. “The government are taking action to give back the blue sky to our people, and we are confident of achieving that,” Wang Hui, an official from the Bid Committee said. Beijing continued the plan in 2015, forbidding the use of coal in urban areas, calling for the support of communities and putting more money in reducing air pollution.
More than 10 billion yuan has been planned to reduce the city’s air pollution.
