A cartoon picture of Beijing’s license plate lottery system. [Photo: caijing.com]

Lawmakers from China's top legislature suggest removing the clause on restricting the number of motor vehicles as the revised law concerning air pollution prevention is under deliberation.

Sun Baoshu, a member with the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said on Tuesday that the key solution to reducing air pollution is to improve gasoline quality and control emissions, rather than restricting the amount of cars on the road.

"The number of cars is supposed to be regulated by the market, instead of the government," Sun added.

Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangzhou have imposed restrictions on private car ownership by different means, such as a government-run license-plate lottery system or auctioning of license plates.