Polluting cars to be phased out

A slew of subsidies have been introduced to promote the use of low-emission vehicles in Beijing and phase out heavy polluting ones, a senior municipal official said yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference, Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the environmental protection bureau, said that from tomorrow, all yellow-label cars will be prohibited from driving within the 5th Ring Road, and from Oct 1, they will be banned within the 6th Ring Road.

Thanks to the measures introduced during the Olympics, Beijing's blue sky rate rose by 7 percent this year, he said.