Beijing parks govt cars to improve air quality

Beijing will take some government cars off its roads as part of a campaign to lower the city's PM2.5 readings and improve air quality, according to an air pollution abatement plan made by the municipal government.

The local government will roll out multiple measures to lower the city's readings of PM2.5, fine particulate matter measuring less than 2.5 micrometers in size, by nearly 30 percent by 2020, reported Thursday's Beijing Morning Post, quoting the local government plan.

According to the plan, governments and institutions at the municipal level will be required to stop using some vehicles when air pollution is heavy. Some factory productions and construction site operations will also be halted in such weather.

Automobile exhaust has been blamed as the biggest source of air pollution in the Chinese capital.