Beijing municipal government will adopt 22 tough new measures to control air pollution this year, building on the progress achieved over the last six years.

The new measures include stricter controls on industrial smoke, automobile exhaust fumes and construction dust.

Other measures include relocating some heavy polluters - such as coking plants in southeastern suburbs - out of the city area.

Automobile emissions, which are an increasing threat to the city's air quality as the number of motor cars rises, will be put under more rigorous supervision and control this year, according to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau.

Motor vehicles that meet emission standards usually have a yellow or green tag pasted on their front windows after an annual inspection. However, cars without such tags are often seen on the roads.

This year, the municipal environmental protection bureau will team up with local traffic management authorities to guard against vehicles without such tags on the road. People driving such cars will be fined 200 yuan (US$24), said Pei Chenghu, deputy director of the bureau.

Pei said the city plans to phase out 3,800 old buses and 20,000 taxis, both blamed as major pollution sources, by the end of this year.

The cost of changing the buses alone is expected to reach 3 billion yuan (US$363 million), according to sources with the Beijing Public Transport Group.

All new buses and taxis must meet Euro III emission standard, said Feng Yuqiao, chief of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Division under the bureau.

Experts say emissions from one old car is the same as from 14 new cars that meet this new standard.

Feng said the city is expected to upgrade its exhaust standard from Euro II to Euro III this year, and special petrol suitable for Euro III cars will be on sale in July.

Beijing adopted the Euro II emission standard in 2003, and the speedy upgrade is because of urgent appeals for clean air, and due to the soaring number of vehicles, said Feng.

Apart from exhaust fumes, the city will also take tough measures to slash industrial emissions, which are another major source to air pollution.

(Agencies)

coking plant :（煉焦廠）

phase out : terminate gradually（逐步淘汰，逐步停止）