Beijing hopes smog won't cloud Apec summit in capital next year
Capital building green complex for next Apec meeting, but critics say move to suburbs won't be enough to escape air pollution
With Beijing authorities planning to showcase their green efforts in an eco-friendly complex in suburban Huairou district for the Apec summit next year, the public are left wondering whether the political and business leaders attending the forum will be choked by the capital's notorious smog.
Still under construction, the waterside complex near Yanqi Lake, a scenic spot about 50 kilometres from downtown, will include a convention centre, a hotel and 12 VIP villas. It will be run with clean energy and have all waste water and garbage treated, according to Zhao Huimin , the director general of Beijing's Foreign Affairs Office.
"Hosting next year's Apec summit will quicken Beijing's pace to became a world-class city," he said on Tuesday.
Dismissing concerns about choking smog during the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit, Zhao said the capital had already launched long-term plans to fight air pollution, including limiting population growth and the number of vehicles, phasing out polluting companies and strengthening vehicle-emission standards.
But some experts said the capital city would have to adopt temporary pollution-control measures similar to those in the lead-up to and during the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, such as pausing factory production and reducing vehicle use by half.
Ma Jun , director of the Institute of Environmental and Public Affairs, said emergency measures to curb air pollution - almost routine now for cities hosting large-scale events - could help Beijing avoid another "airpocalypse".
"But whether the city will see beautiful blue skies during the summit also depends much on weather conditions," Ma said, as it still relied on wind and rain to remove pollutants in the air.
