Restricting vehicle use in Beijing helped the city experience blue skies during the 2008 Olympics, and Guangzhou authorities are planning to do the same for the Asian Games in November.
According to a proposal by the city's environmental watchdog presented to the Guangzhou Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which opened Sunday, restrictions would be imposed on 800,000 of the city's 1.35 million vehicles. This would include a ban on at least 30 percent of the city's 23,000 public vehicles from Oct. 12 to Dec. 22.
The aim is to reduce air pollution for the Asian Games, which will run from Nov. 12-27.
Li Zhuo, director of the Guangzhou Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau s vehicle pollution control department, said that, if necessary, the city government could ban half the remaining public vehicles during the period. In all, nearly 15,000 public vehicles could be restricted ahead of the Games.
No timetable has been set for a decision on the pollution-control measures.
The Guangdong government and city governments in the Pearl River Delta would introduce similar restrictions on public vehicles to help curb air pollution, Li said.
"Clean air is the top priority of the whole province this year, not just Guangzhou," he said.
Guangzhou, where air pollution has worsened because of industrial and vehicle emissions, wants to copy the number-plate restrictions used in Beijing during the Olympics. Under that scheme, cars were banned on alternate days depending on whether the last digit of the number plate was odd or even.
According to the proposal, the curbs based on plate numbers would come into force Nov. 1 and run until Dec. 22. It would apply to all vehicles, even those registered outside Guangzhou.
Some measures imposed for the Asian Games would remain afterward, Li said.
For example, about 135,000 vehicles with yellow environmental protection labels would be permanently barred from the roads within the central city administrative zone - an area of about 260 square kilometers - from as early as June. Yellow-label cars "contribute about 50 percent of the total automobile exhaust emissions in the city," he said.
According to a proposal by the city's environmental watchdog presented to the Guangzhou Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which opened Sunday, restrictions would be imposed on 800,000 of the city's 1.35 million vehicles. This would include a ban on at least 30 percent of the city's 23,000 public vehicles from Oct. 12 to Dec. 22.
The aim is to reduce air pollution for the Asian Games, which will run from Nov. 12-27.
Li Zhuo, director of the Guangzhou Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau s vehicle pollution control department, said that, if necessary, the city government could ban half the remaining public vehicles during the period. In all, nearly 15,000 public vehicles could be restricted ahead of the Games.
No timetable has been set for a decision on the pollution-control measures.
The Guangdong government and city governments in the Pearl River Delta would introduce similar restrictions on public vehicles to help curb air pollution, Li said.
"Clean air is the top priority of the whole province this year, not just Guangzhou," he said.
Guangzhou, where air pollution has worsened because of industrial and vehicle emissions, wants to copy the number-plate restrictions used in Beijing during the Olympics. Under that scheme, cars were banned on alternate days depending on whether the last digit of the number plate was odd or even.
According to the proposal, the curbs based on plate numbers would come into force Nov. 1 and run until Dec. 22. It would apply to all vehicles, even those registered outside Guangzhou.
Some measures imposed for the Asian Games would remain afterward, Li said.
For example, about 135,000 vehicles with yellow environmental protection labels would be permanently barred from the roads within the central city administrative zone - an area of about 260 square kilometers - from as early as June. Yellow-label cars "contribute about 50 percent of the total automobile exhaust emissions in the city," he said.
