China:Beijing will ban half of its 3.4 million cars from the roads during periods of very heavy pollution, a state news report said today.

The city will temporarily reinstate measures it introduced during the Olympic Games and ban cars on alternate days depending on whether their license plates are odd or even if pollution levels rise to extreme levels, the China Daily newspaper said.

"To protect public health over the long term, we must use both methods that increase the number of good air quality days and more stringent measures for when conditions are extremely unfavourable," the deputy director of the city s environmental protection bureau, Du Shaozhong, was quoted as saying.

Work would also be suspended at construction sites and high-polluting factories during extremely polluted periods, the newspaper said.

The restrictions will only be imposed if the air pollution index reaches 300,a threshold far above the city s normal air quality level, it said.

The driving restrictions imposed during the Olympic Games allowed Beijing s 17 million residents to enjoy clear blue summer skies as the city recorded its lowest August pollution levels in 10 years.

Since then, there have been calls in newspaper editorials for an extension of the Olympic traffic measures.

Last month, Beijing officials announced they would introduce some traffic restrictions for a six-month trial period.
Source : PTI