国内英语新闻:Another Chinese city starts car purchase lottery to ease traffic gridlock

GUANGZHOU, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- The southern Chinese megacity of Guangzhou conducted its first ever car license plate lottery Monday, nearly two months after it introduced the policy to ease traffic jams and cut pollution.

A total of 5,640 applicants were awarded plates at Monday's lottery, which was attended by the representatives of the applicants, notaries and officials.

Guangzhou announced early last month to allocate the city's annual 120,000 new car registration quota through a dual model of auction or lottery.

Among 64,866 people who applied for the lottery and auction, 58,405 passed an assessment to vie for 10,907 plates, which means that one out of six people will be lucky enough to win a plate.

However, the odds of winning is likely to shrink as more applicants are expected to enter the lottery later.

It is not known how many applicants participated in the lottery as the city's transport commission keeps the number of bidders confidential.

The auction is scheduled to start on Tuesday.

Applicants can check the results on-line or by phone an hour after the lottery.

Among Monday's 5,640 winners, 4,800 were individuals, 654 were office applicants and the remaining 186 were those who registered for plates for energy-saving or new-energy vehicles.

All of the 186 individuals and offices that applied for energy-saving or new-energy vehicle plates were successful as the plate quota for environmentally friendly cars was set at 1,090.

The remaining 904 untaken plates will be added to the next lottery's quota for ordinary plates, which apparently are the most wanted.

Traffic jams in Guangzhou have worsened recently. Average speeds during rush hours have slowed to 20 km per hour and are expected to become even slower. Growing motor vehicle emissions have also worsened the city's air quality.

Guangzhou is the fourth Chinese city to cap small passenger vehicle registrations after Beijing, Shanghai and Guiyang.