Beijing not ruling out permanent car use limits

Monday, 25 August 2008

BEIJING - Olympic host city Beijing has not ruled out making controversial car use limits permanent, citing the benefits for the environment, state media reported Sunday.

While there are no concrete plans to extend the rule, which has taken at least a million cars off the streets of the capital city, it is worthy of consideration, an official was quoted as saying by the China Daily.

"The rule is closely related to everyone's daily life. We want to hear more public opinion on the whether, or how, to keep the rule," said Wang Li, deputy director of Beijing's traffic administration bureau.

In a last-ditch attempt to clear the air in the run-up to the Games, Beijing ordered cars with licence plates ending in odd and even numbers to take turns and only hit the roads every other day.

The "odd-and-even" restrictions on car use have been particularly well received by the public, with calls to carry on beyond September 20, the date initially set for ending the curbs, the Beijing News reported.

The limits -- along with a decision to shut down construction work and close more than 100 polluting factories -- has been an unmitigated success, according to officials.

Beijing has had the cleanest air of any summer in the past decade, with the air quality ranging from "fairly good" to "excellent" on the pollution index since the opening of the Olympics, the China Daily said.

"The city's air quality was highly satisfactory during the Games in the past two weeks," said Ivo Allegrini, an Italian pollution expert, according to the China Daily.

No one disputes that Beijing's 3.3 million cars have been an important factor in making the city one of the world's most polluted.

However, some officials have said it is necessary evil, arguing that the auto industry has been an important driver of growth.