By Liu Wei (Shanghai Start)
Updated: 2007-09-08 06:30

Prospective Chinese car buyers will be encouraged to buy more energy efficient vehicles under possible measures to cut pollution and increase the country's energy efficiency.

"We should not simply block the citizens' demand to buy cars," said Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, at a panel discussion on how to combat climate change at the Summer Davos yesterday.

Zhang acknowledged that the fast-growing Chinese demand of private cars showed no signs of withering, yet he said the government was likely to develop a market-based strategy to encourage the purchase of cars that use less energy.

"We can set up a framework to encourage people to use smaller, more energy-efficient cars, perhaps by using different tax rates," he said.

"I think we're at an early stage, and in the future we will try to do this much more effectively."

By June this year, China had registered more than 53 million vehicles, and more than 60 percent were for private use.

And the number of private cars continues to increase by about 20 percent each year, much faster than economic growth.

Cars in Dalian during the three-day meeting are allowed on the roads on alternate days according to their odd and even license plates, to prevent possible traffic congestion and improve air quality. The same measure was practiced in Beijing last month for a four-day air quality exercise.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Construction proposed an urban public transportation week to enhance public awareness of the benefits of public transportation and 108 cities have agreed to take part. The event will culminate with a "car-free" day on September 22, from 7 am to 7 pm. Some cities will ban cars on certain roads, while others on all roads.

While motor vehicle use remained a major issue, so too is getting provincial governments to fall in line, and implement the central government's energy conservation strategies.

Zhang admitted the actual implementation of central government goals on the environment sometimes fell short in practice.

Zhang said local officials had become more aware of the need to increase energy efficiency, but he also understood the difficulty in trying to balance the need for energy conservation with strong economic growth.

Also, the start-up costs of energy-saving projects may appear high to some provincial governments. To deal with the issue, he said, the central government "must set up a framework to provide incentives to use energy saving and clean technology".

"If we use incentives, a combination of high tariffs and low taxes (for wasteful versus energy-efficient practices), then more people will be mobilized to develop this kind of business," he said.

As for generating cleaner energy, he said the top priority is how to develop clean coal technology and use it on a large scale, while hydropower and nuclear power are also promising as a means of producing cleaner energy in the future.

(Shanghai Start 09/07/2007 page1)