Beijing is determined to ring in the New Year with big improvements, in areas ranging from the environment to traffic, in a bid to create better living conditions for its residents.

Investment in environmental protection is on the rise. The figure is predicted to exceed 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) this year.

The painstaking efforts of the Beijing municipal government to improve air quality have begun to pay off. The city's goal is to have at least 219 days with fairly good or excellent air quality in 2003. The achieved goal for 2002 was 201 days.

The municipal government has vowed to continue improving air quality and help the city achieve clean air - defined as days with an air quality of level two or better - for 60 percent of the whole year.

Shijingshan District and two other areas in Beijing's southeastern suburbs are the focus of this year's comprehensive ecological improvement project. Industrial emissions control is still the key point.

Environmentally friendly automobiles are highlighted in the plan. Further promotion of the use of clean fuels and stricter controls on automobile emissions are on the agenda. Early decommissioning of old cars, and restrictions on driving time for high-polluting cars are included in the plan.

Various methods, especially economic means, are expected to be put into practice to encourage construction sites to gain a "Green Sample" certificate to meet standards for dust control.

Numerous renovation projects are on the way.

The work will center on the protection of historical sites and relics and advancing urbanization at the same time.

About 50,000 families will leave their old houses, which are no longer fit to accommodate people, and 650,000 square meters of unsafe buildings will be demolished.

The renovations will focus on the old-city area. Qianmen commercial area is high on the list.

To meet the demands of those medium- and low-income residents, 2 million square meters of affordable housing will be completed and another 3 million square meters will be developed this year.

The city's public transportation system will present a new face to the citizenry this year. The integrated circuit card system is expected to be introduced to the light railway this June.

Paper-tickets will be gradually phased out and electronic services will make further inroads into people's lives.

The subway will have fewer stairs to climb as another 8 escalators will be installed this year.

Right now lines one and two feature 95 escalators. Lifts for the disabled will also make their debut this year.

A new type of 14-metre-long bus will completely take over the roads this year. The environmentally friendly and comfortable buses will illustrate the extension of the capital's public transportation net.

Following yesterday's kick-off of overall operations of the light railway, the public transportation authority is busy opening new stations. More and more people accept the idea of taking the bus to catch the light railway.

Bus transportation thus becomes a strong complement to the light railway service.

(China Daily January 2, 2003)