Official car reform should draw line between public and private: expert

Rumors wander that the Chinese government is currently on works to draft a statement on official car reform and will announce it within the next few days.

According to the Guangzhou Daily on January 26, all Guangzhou government vehicles will install Global Positioning System (GPS) devices after the Spring Festival, to prevent officials from misusing their cars for private matter.

Once equipped with the device, the cars will be supervised in real time and can be instantly reached by departments.

Professor at School of Government Administration of Central University of Finance and Economics, Xu Huandong, was quoted by the Economic Information Daily as saying that he believes the official-car reform should draw a line between public and private.

Costs and expenses of each official vehicle, including daily fuel consumption, maintenance and driver's salary, was reported to exceed 60,000 yuan ($9,102) per year, some even reaching 100,000 yuan ($15,170).

Xu also suggests governments should hire transport services from taxi companies instead of handing each (official) with a shinny vehicle whose costs are superfluous. He believes this way, will not only slash expenses to a minimum, but also serve as pro-environmental.