China is attempting to control air pollution for the 2008 Olympic games for both the safety of the athletes and for the tourists that the games attract.
From Reuters:
BEIJING – Beijing will shut down smoke-belching factories and ban thousands of cars from city streets to improve air quality during next year’s Olympic Games, a senior city official said on Thursday.Vice mayor Ji Lin said other special measures would include a ban on dust-causing earthworks at construction sites.
Ji said 120 billion yuan ($15.69 billion) had already been invested in environmental improvements over the past decade and at least another 25 billion yuan would be spent over the next year to clean the city’s air. [Full Text]
See also the China Daily and People’s Daily news coverage of the air quality controls for the Olympics.
