Beijing Set To Phase Out Polluting Vehicles In '09

Shanghai, December 31, 2008: (Gasgoo.com) Beijing will ban heavy-polluting vehicles from running on its inner-city roads starting Jan. 1, 2009 and phase them out by the second half of next year by providing subsidies to their owners for buying low-emission new cars, said Beijing News today. The maximum subsidy for scrapping a polluting car for a clean one will reach 25,000 yuan ($3,660).

Before the 2008 Olympic Games in April, the environmental watchdog of Beijing labeled the city's heavy-polluting vehicles "Yellow" and thus has made them known as "yellow-label vehicles." Beijing now has 353,800 yellow-label vehicles, which account for just 10% of the total number of motor vehicles but make 50% of auto emissions. Yellow-label vehicles do not meet the Euro I emission standard, which was adopted in China in 1992.

From tomorrow, all yellow-label cars in Beijing will be prohibited from driving within the 5th Ring Road, and from Oct. 1, they will be banned within the 6th Ring Road, said an official of Beijing's environmental bureau yesterday. In 2009, owners of yellow-label vehicles will be given a reward of up to 25,000 yuan if they stop driving these vehicles and purchase environmentally friendly ones.

The new subsidies are designed to encourage people to stop using heavy polluting vehicles in the capital city. Hold-outs will not be fined during a three-month reprieve period next year.

"Generally, the earlier people switch their vehicles the more money they will get," said the environmental official. "The phase-out of yellow-label cars is a key to improving the air quality in Beijing."

Thanks to some eco-friendly measures introduced during the summer Olympics, Bei

jing's blue sky rate rose by 7% this year. For more information please visit http://www.gasgoo.com