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Gov’t hits the brakes on car fleet due to inflation
Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper talked with Pham Dinh Cuong, director of the Public Assets Management Department under the Ministry of Finance, about Government car usage amid petrol price increases.
How is the current management of government car usage?
After one and a half year of applying Decision QD 59/CP on reducing government cars and not replacing ones in use, the number of new government cars went down from 645 in 2006 to 216 in 2007.
In the first months of 2008, 88 cars were bought. Since the April 17 decision on curbing inflation, the Prime Minister has asked for a pause in buying government cars as well as other expensive items. Therefore since April, no more cars have been bought.
Ever since the Party Congress X in 2006, there have been more people getting positions like secretary, provincial chairman, and politburo member but they now use old cars in stead of buying new ones.
Using government cars for individual purposes has also reduced markedly. Before, it is easy to see government cars on the way to tourist places at the weekend, but it is now very rare.
This change is largely due to public opinion. Through education, some State officials have started their own transportation which means that they will spend a certain amount of allowance themselves instead of relying on the Government.
The allowance is based on the average distance multiplied by average taxi price. Besides the National Assembly, some ministries like Justice, Agriculture and Rural Development as well as Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs have followed suit.
According to the Minister of Finance, Vu Van Ninh, self financed transportation will save the State budget about VND1,000 billion per year. Is this being put into practice?
At present, there are about 20,000 government cars. If one car is used for ten years, it means that on average 200 cars are made redundant due to age per year.
We are now trying not to buy anymore new government cars. As estimated, if we don’t buy new ones and reduce the usage of old ones, by 2010-11, the number of government cars will drop sharply.
I have to admit that State businesses find it more difficult to economise expenditure on petrol than the administration sector because their petrol cost is included in production price.
In the future, we will have a regulation on this problem. On May 22, Deputy Minister of Finance Pham Sy Danh signed Decision 5942 in which each business will have the duty of checking their own petrol expenditure economisation.
In addition, we also set up six teams to re-check. Any business that violates will be fined.
How will state officials using government cars economise as petrol prices increase?
Despite increasing petrol prices, the state will not compensate for the cost. It is time for state officials to realise that they can’t ask for to change the budget because of increasing petrol prices.
In the future, the policy of using government car will become stricter. Besides the policy of reducing the number of government cars, we will popularise self transport. In the past, a government car was considered a symbol of power but at present, no one cares. In fact, using taxis and private cars is nicer.
Popularising self transport and encourage people to use public services need to be pushed as petrol prices increase.
We will soon work with Viet Nam Airlines to arrange for buses to shuttle people to the airport instead of using cars.
We also encourage state officials to take cheap flight for business trips. The amount saved from that may then be divided between the state and the official.
VNN
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