BEIJING - Beijing municipality will keep in place traffic regulations designed to limit the number of cars in use on weekdays based on car number plates this year.

The restrictions, set to expire on April 10, have been renewed so they will continue to be valid from April 11 this year, according to the city's work program to ease traffic congestion, released on Wednesday.

Keeping one fifth of the city's vehicles off the roads from 7 am to 8 pm every weekday based on the last digit of car number plates, the restrictions came into place in 2008 after the Beijing Olympic Games and were renewed for another two years in 2010.

The program also said the city will release 240,000 new car licenses for car buyers to draw in the ongoing monthly lottery.

Under the car license application lottery rules starting in 2011, there were 173,000 new vehicles registered last year, 617,000 less than the number in 2010. By the end of last year, the total amount of the city's registered vehicles had reached 4.98 million, according to the program.