Beijing's latest plan to solve the city's air pollution problem by opening new air corridors will not bring the capital's smog to neighboring areas, said experts.
Concerns rose after Beijing announced a plan to develop air corridors by connecting large swathes of parks, rivers and green space to improve airflow and disperse air pollutants. While Beijing residents prepared to welcome blue skies, people from neighboring regions, including frequently smog-shrouded Tianjin and Hebei Province, expressed concern that pollutants might flow into their cities instead.
The opening of air corridors will improve not only horizontal but also vertical airflow, which could effectively help disperse and dilute pollutants before they reach areas near Beijing, Wang Gengchen, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Atmospheric Physics, told the Global Times.
The five primary corridors are designed to be more than 500 meters in width, and some secondary corridors will be more than 80 meters wide, the Xinhua News Agency reported, adding that tests on the effect of air corridors have already begun in the Kunyuhe area of northwestern Beijing.
The primary corridors, which will run from north to south, will allow northern winds to blow through Beijing during winter, when smog is most severe, said Xinhua.
"The ventilation corridors have proven effective in relieving the urban heat island effect, facilitating air flow and alleviating air pollution," He Yong, deputy director of the planning research department of the Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design, was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
"The height and density of buildings will be strictly controlled within the planned corridors," He added.
Many tall buildings and dense blocks along key corridors obstruct air flow in the region, and some of the outdated buildings along the corridors will be demolished over time, He said.
The plan to address climate change issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development on February 17 also includes provisions for the establishment of such air corridors across the nation, news site people.cn reported.
