Hangzhou clamps down on car plates

Hangzhou government is restricting new car plates from Wednesday in a bid to reduce congestion and combat air pollution.

No plates will be issued until April 26 when car buyers can take their chances in a lottery system to get a plate for free or bid for a plate with a starting price of 10,000 yuan (US$1,612).

The city will issue a total of 80,000 plates over the 12 months from May with 64,000 available in the lottery and the rest to be bid for.

"The split between lottery and bid is to maintain fairness and efficiency," said Zhu Yunfu, deputy secretary general of the Hangzhou municipal government.

Officials said that though there was no upper limit for bids, it was estimated that the average price for a car plate would be around 15,000 yuan.

The money raised will be used to control air pollution, said Le Hua, director of the Hangzhou Traffic Police Detachment.

The restrictions, though only announced yesterday evening, had been widely anticipated and had created a scramble for license plates.

At a car market in north Hangzhou many dealers saw business more than triple, staff said.

Dealers had kept their showrooms open until midnight yesterday because of the last-minute demand.