Beijing has drafted a regulation on government spending on cars, receptions and foreign trips in an effort to rid mainland governments of their reputation for wasteful extravagance.
The draft, released on Monday by the State Council's Legislative Affairs Office for a one-month public consultation, would require all governments above the county level to include such spending in their annual budgets and to disclose it for public scrutiny. The move comes after years of public appeals for details and tighter control of government spending in the three areas, closely linked to allegations of corruption and the abuse of public funds.
Ninety-eight central government agencies gave a rare glimpse of the scale of government spending in such areas by releasing figures by August following an order issued by Premier Wen Jiabao at a State Council executive meeting in March. Wen has pledged on several occasions that all government agencies must cut spending in the three areas and publicly release details.
'Government agencies should follow the principle of being economical, practical and efficient and eliminate extravagance while being put up for public scrutiny,' the draft proposal says.
Governments would be told to use low- and medium-cost 'economic and environment-friendly' cars for business. No SUVs would be allowed unless they were for special jobs or difficult roads and government cars should not be equipped with deluxe features.
Reports about luxury car purchases by governments are a frequent source of annoyance for mainlanders. In February, a finance department in Ningxia was exposed for having spent nine million yuan (HK$11.01 million) on 25 Audis. A recent report by the China Youth Daily said governments spent 80 billion yuan buying cars last year - a 10 billion yuan increase on 2009 and accounting for 14 per cent of total government purchases.