Beijing’s preparations for the International Olympic Committee’s evaluation visit next week, are in high gear. There was even a dress rehearsal Friday, and reporters were shown a sewage-treatment plant and the city’s secretive traffic-control centre.
Beijing Urban Drainage Corp.’s general manager Yang Xiangping said “Beijing’s rivers will be in good shape for the Olympic Games. He said by 2008, 96 per cent of Beijing’s waste water will be treated, up from 5l per cent now.
And Yu Chunquan, head of traffic management, said the remote closed-circuit video system that police use to monitor traffic, as well as 6,000 traffic officers, will reasure the inspectors that no one will miss an Olympic event. But he promised the city wouldn’t restrict traffic during the IOC visit.
As for pollution, many polluting industries have closed or moved, greatly improving air quality. Officials say no temporary shutdowns are planned this year as was done when the city was inspected during it’s failed bid for the 2000 Olympics. Factories, smelters and chemical plants polled said they plan to operate normally during the visit.
And Satuarday was cleanup day in Beijing in which bureaucrats, businessmen and the general public were expected to clear garbage, clean their homes from doorstep to rooftop and shovel away dirt-encrusted snow.
Starting next week, police will penalize taxi drivers and car owners who are driving around in dirty vehicles.
Reports say the Chinese have outfitted a pair of buses with bathrooms, flat-screen TVs, electric outlets, a computer with Internet access and a wet bar in case commission members get thirsty.
And Beijing’s 2008 General Secretary Wang Wei told the Beijing Youth Daily that his group will use as many young women as possible in their presentations to IOC members. He said “we’ve found Chinese women leave a very good impression on foreign guests”.
