Beijing citizens have seen 219 days of "satisfactory" air quality so far this year, 11 days more than the 60 percent quota set for 2003.  

"It is a big step on the way to get a clean Beijing," said Pei Chenghu, deputy head of the municipal bureau of environmental protection, Saturday.

He said this year the capital had 119 more satisfactory days than in 1998, when it began taking effective moves to improve air pollution.

Several measures taken by the municipal government this year attributed to better air quality, said Pei. The four downtown districts adopted natural gas and electricity for boilers and heating facilities, instead of coal.

Meanwhile, more strict regulations have been set to control automobile emissions. Several kinds of pollutive cars have been banned on inner city roads. Thus the annual average concentration of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere was almost the same as last year, while the number of vehicles exceeded 2 million.

In addition, 456 polluting sand and stone quarries were closed, several construction sites and enterprises were regulated or removed, and green belts were built.

Weather reports said this year no strong sandstorms had hit Beijing and the rainfall quantity was much more than last year, which helped achieve the goal.

However, Beijing still faces difficulties in curbing air pollution, especially that caused by industry and cars, and is still one of the most badly-polluted cities in the world, leaving more work to be done next year, Pei said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 20, 2003)