Chinese city limiting cars to fight pollution

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.statesman.com/business/ch...n-2450652.html

Chinese city limiting cars to fight pollution

By Keith Bradsher
THE NEW YORK TIMES

GUANGZHOU, CHINA — It is as startling as if Detroit or Los Angeles restricted car ownership.

The municipal government of Guangzhou, a sprawling metropolis that is one of China's biggest auto manufacturing centers, introduced license plate auctions and lotteries last week that will roughly halve the number of new cars on the streets.

The measures have the potential to help clean up China's notoriously dirty air and water, reduce long-term health care costs and improve the quality of Chinese growth. But they are also imposing short-term costs, economists say, at a time when policymakers in Beijing and around the world are already concerned about a sharp economic slowdown in China.