Unfavorable weather such as high temperatures and dense fog has been aggravating air pollution in the country's national capital since the start of the year, said a municipal environmental protection official on Thursday.

 

Pei Chenghu, deputy director of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, said that until Thursday, Beijing had only enjoyed 44 blue-sky days since the start of the year, representing a decrease of 11 days compared with the same period last year.

 

This has made it more difficult for the Chinese capital to reach its goal of having 238 "blue sky" days this year, eight more than that in 2005, said Pei.

 

The bureau published its goal of pollution control, which requires the Tongzhou and Shunyi districts, as well as the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone in Beijing's suburban areas, to complete a self-evaluation mechanism on environment protection.

 

The capital city will phase out 8,000 outdated taxi cars and 2,000 buses this year and replace them with vehicles meeting newly promulgated, more rigid state standards for pollution control.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 17, 2006)