BEIJING (AFP) -

More than a million cars will be taken off the streets of China’s capital for four days this month, state media said Thursday, amid mounting concern over air pollution during next year’s Beijing Olympics.

Air quality will be monitored during the four days, state television reported, in a possible test-drive of traffic-reduction measures for the Games.

From August 17 to 20, only taxis and buses will be allowed on the streets as usual, along with special vehicles, such as ambulances and police cars, according to the report.

All other vehicles will be curbed, with cars carrying even-numbered license plates allowed on the roads every other day, and those with odd-numbered ones permitted to run on the remaining days, it said.

About 1.3 million cars will be banned every day during the measure, the report said.

The initiative was announced a day after International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said events could be rescheduled at the Games if pollution was extremely bad.

Beijing is one of the world’s most polluted cities and poor air quality has long been a top concern for athletes and officials.

Those concerns were exacerbated as a weeks-long smoggy haze that reduced visibility to just a few hundred metres (yards) on occasions marred the build-up to Wednesday’s one-year countdown celebrations to the Games.