Vehicles of Shanghai government institutions and state-owned enterprises will take turns off the roads one out of the five weekdays starting from next month, following a similar traffic restriction in Beijing.

The Shanghai municipal government announced the measure as part of an energy-saving campaign on Wednesday at a press conference.

The ban partly copied the Beijing one, as cars whose number plates ended with 1 or 6 would be taken off roads on Monday, while those ending with 2 or 7 would be banned on Tuesday, 3 or 8 on Wednesday, 4 or 9 on Thursday and 5 or 0 on Friday, said Shanghai government spokesman Chen Qiwei.

The Shanghai ban does not apply to private vehicles like Beijing, although Chen said Shanghai's private vehicles were encouraged to follow up the restriction.

Up to 800,000 cars were taken off Beijing roads on Monday as the traffic restriction officially began. Traffic jams, however, were still reported in a few downtown areas, local authorities said.

Measures to be taken in Shanghai's energy-saving campaign also included a minimum air-conditioning temperature of 26 degrees Celsius during summer and a maximum of 20 degrees during winter in public buildings.

Elevators would not stop from the first to third floors in government buildings and the number of electrical water dispensers would be reduced, among others.

(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2008)