In a crucial offense to eliminate the choking smog that covers Beijing, one million cars will be removed from the polluted and congested streets of the city this summer.

The announcement of a partial driving ban between August 7 and 20 came as officials admitted that China's inexorable industrial growth has pushed its environment to a breaking point and is putting the lives of its people in jeopardy.

In July 4, the World Bank said that at least 460,000 Chinese people die each year from breathing polluted air and drinking dirty water. And no doubt, cars have largely contributed to this.  

Ruining China's attempts to clean up one of the nastiest environments in the world are corruption, vested interests and the country's focus on chasing economic growth. Previous government reports say that more than 70 per cent of China's waterways and 90 per cent of its underground water are contaminated by pollution.

Outspoken vice-minister at the State Environmental Protection Administration Pan Yue said that traditional ways of development have caused the near-breakdown of China's resources and environment, as well as people's lives in great peril. The vice-minister added that the aim for short-term goals is leading to ever increasing pollution.

An order to keep government cars in their garages during an Africa summit this year effectively ended widespread jams and made the sky bluer to the Chinese capital. However, few details of the traffic plan were made public in July 4.

Beijing is preparing for the Olympic Games to be held from August 8 next year. In connection to this, the city has set a goal for a certain number of blue sky days each year. The sad thing is in June it recorded poor air quality on 15 days - the most polluted June since 2000. The city has already spent $15 billion (£8 billion) on a gigantic pollution clean-up, moving steel mills, power plants and coal-fired furnaces to the sub urban areas or beyond.

The Government claims that the efforts are having an impact because last year the city enjoyed 241 "blue-sky" days, as compared to fewer than 100 decades ago.

Nonetheless, with as many as 1,200 new cars hitting the streets of Beijing every day, the city is expected to have over 3.3 million cars by the Olympics, a 2.97 million increase from the present number.