Beijing Smog Closes Highways as Travelers Return After Holiday
October 7, 2013 Leave a comment
Beijing Smog Closes Highways as Travelers Return After Holiday
Air pollution in Beijing, China’s capital city, reached a heavy level today with smog causing flight disruptions and the closure of expressways in the nation’s northern region at the end of a week-long holiday. Air quality index readings for most of Beijing’s urban areas were above 200 as of 8 a.m. today, indicating a level of heavy pollution, according to data on the website of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center. Police closed six expressways linking the capital city to Shanghai, Tianjin and Harbin yesterday, and 47 flights at Beijing Capital International Airport were affected. Millions of Chinese travelers will be seeking to return home today, the last day of a week-long holiday that started Oct. 1. Some parts of the expressways linking Beijing to Shanghai and Tianjin were still closed as of 9:40 a.m. because of haze, according to Beijing Capital Highway Development Group Co., which operates the highways.Flights have resumed at Beijing Capital International Airport, an official said, declining to be identified citing company policy. Air China Ltd. (753), the nation’s biggest carrier by market value, will put on additional services after the smog affected at least 47 flights yesterday, an official said.
An estimated 430 million people are expected to travel during the holiday, an increase of 18 percent from a year earlier, according to the China Tourism Academy.
Social Unrest
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has pledged to clean up pollution, which has become the top cause of social unrest in the nation. The State Council, China’s cabinet, last month said it will cut coal consumption, close steel plants and control the number of cars on its roads to gradually eliminate heavily polluted days in as soon as a decade.
China will build a nationwide network within three to five years to monitor the impact of air pollution on health, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Oct. 5, citing the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
A total of 43 monitoring spots will be set up in 16 provinces and municipalities frequently engulfed by smog to facilitate research on air pollutants in different regions, the impact on the health of vulnerable groups and the study of related diseases, the report said.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Zhang Shidong in Shanghai at szhang5@bloomberg.net; Jasmine Wang in Hong Kong at jwang513@bloomberg.net
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