Special report:   2008 Olympic Games 

    BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Beijing will step up its pollution control efforts in various ways, such as closing heavy-polluting plants and upgrading environmental remediation facilities as the Olympic Games draw near.

    By the end of June, production will be stopped at the Organic Chemical Plant of Beijing Eastern Petrochemical Co. Ltd, the Dayou Company of Beijing Chemical Industry Group Corporation and the heavy oil-fueling units of China Huadian Corporation Beijing Thermoelectric Co. Ltd, the Beijing municipal government said in a bulletin on Thursday.

    The clean-up will continue after the Olympics, it said, since the city plans to shut 40 heavily polluting, energy-intensive companies in all by the end of December.

    The bulletin also ordered companies to take strict control measures by the end of June to ensure that their pollution did not exceed permitted levels.

    Coal-fired power plants and heating companies should quickly install pollution-control facilities for substances such as sulphur dioxide and dust.

    "Since 1998, the city has organized and carried out 13 phases of air pollution control measures, leading to marked improvement of air quality," the bulletin said.