Motorists in Shanghai will have to make sure that their cars and other vehicles have a "green-card" if they are to drive downtown as of Wednesday.

There are now 1.01 million motor vehicles in Shanghai. About half of them, presumably late model vehicles, will be automatically granted environment-friendly "green cards".

In an on-going effort to clean up the city's air pollution the Shanghai Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau will require all vehicles traveling on the city's elevated motorways to meet emission standards equivalent to the European I Standard.

Motor vehicles that fail to comply with the emissions requirement will be banned from the city's inner ring during rush hours beginning February15. Motor vehicles that do not meet the standard will be banned from all roads within the inner ring road after October, said the bureau.

The municipality plans to test the emissions of 115,000 vehicles, said Xu Zuxin, director of the municipal environmental protection bureau. Xu expects between 50,000 and 70,000 vehicles will fail the emission tests and be disqualified from driving downtown.

(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2006)