Cameramen capture the scene at the Beijing Coke and Chemistry Plant on Tuesday, February 27, 2007. Twenty-two reporters from 14 foreign media organizations visited the plant, which was once the greatest source of pollution in Beijing. [Photo: beijing2008.com]

The Beijing Coke and Chemistry Plant has ceased production to pave the way for the Beijing Olympics next year. [Photo: beijing2008.com]

A host of foreign correspondents have become first ever onsite witnesses of a latest major shutdown of a big polluter in Beijing, the city's 48 year-old 1st Coke Chemistry Plant, in response to the "Green Olympics", an environmental initiative advocated by the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympiad.

According to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Organizing Committee, or BOCOG, the recently closed-down coal gas producer has been the major sources of air pollution in the Chinese capital city. Visiting the then polluter Tuesday included 22 senior correspondents from 14 foreign media organizations that have offices in Beijing, like Reuters and AFP. The 1st Beijing Coke Chemistry Plant locates near the Southeaster Fifth Ring Road of the city.  The reporters conducted a series of interviews with officials and former plant workers while they were visiting on site.

Xinhua News Agency reports Beijing plans to turn the site of the plant into a special industrial memorial park in honor of its "Green Olympics" commitments. Part of the revised plant has been moved to Tangshan, a city in neighboring Hebei province.

The coal gas producer, which was built in 1959, totally ceased its production on July 23, 2006, following its increasing air pollution and a decline in its production capacity.

Sources with the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Organizing Committee say that the plant shutdown is expected to greatly improve air quality of Beijing. Experts predict the city's annual coal consumption will be reduced by 2.96 million tons, while dust and sulfur dioxide emissions will be cut by 73.21 million tons and 75 million tons respectively, an almost 80 percent drop, following the plant's closure.

Other highly polluting plants have also ceased production ahead of the Olympics. The Beijing Shougang Group, China's fourth largest steel maker, in the city's west stopped production in 2005. The Group will wind up its massive move to neighbouring Hebei by 2010.

Also according to Beijing's vice Mayor Ji Lin, green coverage in Beijing has increased to 42 percent and the green space per capita is now 47 square kilometers. Earlier this month, a BOCOG environmental official also confirmed that air quality in Beijing has been keeping its improvement over the past six years. The official is confident that the city's environmental commitments will make the upcoming 2008 Olympics an equally green one.

Editor: Yan