Under the city's environmental working agenda for this year, the capital will accelerate its afforestation process and upgrade pollution control and garbage disposal to build a "greener and cleaner city with a bluer sky."

The city government called together relative departments earlier this month to work out the agenda and discuss other urban construction plans set for this year, said an official with the publicity department under the city's environmental protection bureau.

These efforts will help the city better prepare for the 2008 Olympics, he said.

The city will build 1,333 hectares of green areas by the end of this year.

Ten big tree planting projects will also be kicked off this year, which will result in three more hectares of grassland and forest in the city's downtown areas.

The city's urban planning bureau also said a further 93 hectares of illegal buildings will be demolished and replaced with green land by the end of this year.

The ongoing building of the city's Fifth Ring Road also includes an afforestation project covering 1,960 hectares of grassland along the roadside.

The green project, which aims to dot the roadside with both trees and flowers, will take public bids later this year to keep up with the pace of the road building, according to the city's forestry bureau.

The three-year green plan for the capital's suburbs, which started in the beginning of 2000, will be completed by the end of this year, the city's environmental officials said.

Under the plan, a green belt covering more than 300 square kilometres will surround the city and provide an ecological shield.

As for pollution control, the municipal government has promised to increase total natural gas consumption this year to 1.8 billion cubic metres.

Beijing will continue to readjust its energy supply structure this year with much of the focus centring on shifting the city's major energy source from coal to low pollution or clean fuels, bureau officials said.

The use of wind, geothermal and solar energy will also be further encouraged.

Moreover, the city will build 12 new sewage treatment plants by the end of this year or early next year, according to the environmental protection bureau.

The city's garbage treatment plants will ensure that 88 per cent of urban waste does not harm the health of citizens and capacity will reach more than 7,000 tons of waste each day, bureau officials said. Fourteen such plants operate around the city now. About 100 industrial enterprises will be moved out of Beijing's urban areas between now and 2007.

According to bureau statistics, Beijing injected more than 30 billion yuan (US$3.6 billion) into environmental protection between 1998 and 2001.

(China Daily February 20, 2002)