Beijing (AsiaNews/Scmp) – Beijing's chances of reaching the objective of acceptable air quality for the 2008 Olympic Games were cast in serious doubt yesterday, after April was recorded as being the city's most polluted in years.

This was reported by Xinhua, which said there were only 11 days of clear blue sky in April, the worst record in five years. In the first four months of the year, there were only 51 days of clear sky and to reach the established goal of 239 days per year with "acceptable air quality", the capital needs to have clean skies for at least 22 days per month for the rest of the year.

In recent months, pollution in the capital reached such high levels that airports were shut down at times and city lamps were lit to counter the thick darkness caused by dust in the air.

"Although there was some improvement in the month of May, it doesn't look optimistic that we can achieve the goal this year," said Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing Environment Protection Bureau.

In a bid to reverse the trend, more than 200,000 members of Beijing car clubs have called for a no-car day to be introduced at least once a month. The city has about 2.6 million vehicles on its roads. The government is also trying to put a stop to rampant pollution in view of the upcoming Olympics: it has replaced 4,000 old buses and at least 30,000 taxis considered to be too polluting.

All these operations are being monitored by the international Olympic Committee that has expressed "preoccupation about the pollution problem" on more than one occasion. However, the chairman, Jacques Rogge, added that he was "sure everything possible would be done to resolve it".