Opinion | Cross-border licence plates go for a million yuan on black market

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About 2,000 left-hand mainland cars have permits to drive in Hong Kong today under the existing cross-border driving license scheme. Photo: David Wong/SCMP

Published: 11:00am, 14 Dec 2012Updated: 12:08pm, 14 Dec 2012

High demand for licence plates that allow vehicles to travel across the Hong Kong-mainland China border are driving prices up to as much as 1.1 million yuan in Guangdong’s black market, the Shanghai Morning Post reported on Thursday.

Some sellers even tout the great "investment opportunity", claiming the price will only rise in the future.

Duo licence plates, issued by Guangdong's Traffic Management Bureau, are difficult to obtain because of high standards on applicants, said the report.

According to the current regulation, a qualified applicant has to invest US$400,000 in a business entity in rural Guangdong and pay an annual tax of 1500,000 yuan (HK$184,863). Or the applicant needs to invest US$1 million in a business entity in urban Guangdong, and pay an annual tax of 300,000 yuan, said the report.

Philanthropists who have donated more than 10 million yuan to mainland China are also eligible for a duo licence plate.

Shenzhen’s Huanggang border checkpoint stopped issuing duo licence plates since 2008, after Guangdong decided to control the number of such plates, said Jin Yan, a lawyer in Guangdong. But Shenzhen Bay border checkpoint is still issuing them. The two checkpoints have been the major issuers of the duo plates to Hong Kong vehicles.

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