BEIJING, March 7 (Reuters) - Car owners forced off the road to reduce pollution during August's Beijing Olympics will be compensated, China's state news agency reported on Friday.

Beijing plans to take as many as half of its 3.3 million vehicles off the roads during the Aug. 8-24 Games to help cut emissions.

"Automobiles, excluding taxis, buses and emergency vehicles, are to stay off roads every other day in accordance with the even and odd numbers on the licence plates," Xinhua quoted Beijing vice mayor Ji Lin as saying.

"The ban is aimed to ensure air quality during the sports events in Beijing."

Ji said there would be compensation but the exact levels were still being discussed, the report added.

Beijing, one of the most polluted cities in the world, held a four-day test of similar restrictions in August last year.

Despite huge efforts to improve the environment over the last decade, air quality remains one of the biggest problems facing organisers in the run-up to the Olympics.

Olympic chief Jacques Rogge said last year that some endurance events would have to be rescheduled if air quality could not be guaranteed.

Plans to reduce pollutants during the Olympics and September's Paralympics also involve cutting emissions at power plants and factories in Beijing and five surrounding provinces.

Full details of the contingency plans have yet to be announced, but another Beijing vice mayor, Liu Jingmin, said earlier this week that measures should not be too disruptive to the city's economy of the lives of the people.

(Take a look at the Countdown to Beijing blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china) (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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