Shanghai legislature endorsed a bill yesterday that is expected
to ban vehicles that emit black exhaust.
This revision to Shanghai's existing amendments to a national
law on the prevention of air pollution - due to take effect on
January 1 - stipulates that no vehicles are allowed to emit black
exhaust.
The drivers of any vehicles seen doing so or those whose
emissions contain more pollutants than the national or city
standards will have their licenses confiscated. They will also have
to have their vehicles fixed within a set period. Violators will
only get their licenses back when they pass an emissions test.
All vehicles must receive regular emissions tests. People who
fail to take the tests will not receive a pass from the city's
traffic department allowing them to drive.
The revision is expected to improve the city's air quality,
which is being affected by the increasing amount of traffic on the
streets.
Xu Zhuxin, director of the Shanghai Municipal Environment
Protection Bureau, said vehicle emissions had become a major cause
of air pollution.
Vehicles contribute 80 percent of the air pollution downtown.
And the number of cars in the city has been rising despite the
higher cost of license plates.
Since 1994, Shanghai has been limiting the number of vehicles in
the city by auctioning off a fixed number of license plates every
year. Prices have soared as demand has increased.
A record was set last month for the most expensive license plate
at 49,631 yuan ($6,565). The city expects to break the 50,000-yuan
mark this month.
By the end of last year, there were nearly 2.43 million vehicles
in Shanghai. Some 2.13 million of them - 1.11 million cars and 1.02
million motorcycles - had Shanghai plates.
In July 2001, the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress passed an
amendment to a national law on preventing air pollution. It
emphasized limiting car exhaust.
Early this year, the Shanghai municipal environment protection
bureau submitted a revision to the amendment to the city's
legislature. The revision sought tougher restrictions.
The revision was scheduled for a vote in August, but it was
postponed due to doubts among legislators that it would force most
buses, which are often seen emitting black exhaust, off the
road.
But a report from the environment bureau yesterday showed that
the city government was trying to improve its bus fleet, and by the
time the revision takes effective, only those buses that are
maintained poorly will have to be taken out of circulation.
A plan launched last year had upgraded 1,500 buses and 18,500
taxies by the end of June. And regular spot examinations are being
carried out.
(China Daily October 11, 2007)