BEIJING, March 7 -- Shenzhen of south China is facing mounting traffic pressure and worsening pollution as its one millionth vehicle hit the road yesterday.

    A businessman Chen Yin, who registered his BMW at local traffic police authorities yesterday, said he was "excited" at holding the record as Shenzhen had the second-largest number of vehicles after Beijing in China.

    A Shenzhen Evening News report said there are around 1.2 million vehicles, 80 percent of them private cars, running on Shenzhen's roads every day, taking into account 200,000 vehicles registered in other cities and crossing the border to Hong Kong.

    Bumper to bumper cars now stretch nearly twice the length of the city's streets, the report said.

    Shenzhen recorded the fastest vehicle number growth in China, the report said.

    In 1993, Shenzhen boasted 2,100 private cars. The vehicle number jumped to 189,000 in 2003 and 963,000 by the end of last year.

    The astonishing growth in the number of vehicles poses an unprecedented challenge to the city's urban planning, environment protection and traffic policies, though the government has unveiled plans to ease traffic jams and parking difficulties, according to the report.

    Some 90 percent of roads in Luohu, Futian and Nanshan districts are fully loaded with cars during rush hours, the report said. On some urban trunk roads, vehicles crawl at a speed of 20 kph during peak hours.

    The increase in cars is also caused parking difficulties, though the government raised parking fees in business areas last September. By the end of last year, the city was still short of 370,000 car parking places. Some car parking places are available for rent at 120,000 yuan a year.

    Media reports say car emisions have replaced industrial gases to become the city's main source of air pollution since 2004, accounting for 70 percent of the total. Hazardous pollutants emitted by vehicles have reached 200,000 tons in the city and are increasing at 20 percent a year.

    Despite the growth in cars, Vice Mayor Zhang Ziping was quoted as saying Shenzhen will not control vehicle numbers by restricting plate numbers like Shanghai. Shanghai imposes an average fee of 40,000 yuan for each plate.

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily)