Officials meanwhile say they will continue trying to find a "legal,
reasonable and sustainable" solution to tackle the thorny issue of locating a
balance between the heavy traffic and the growing desire among the public to own
cars.
"There won't be a sudden big change in the policy we have been carrying on
for years," Zhou Ya, director of the policy and regulation department at the
Shanghai Development and Reform Commission, told China Daily Tuesday.
Zhou was referring to the car license plate auction practice Shanghai adopted
in mid 1980s in order to curb traffic pressure. Through a monthly sealed-bid
auction plus limited release of new plates, the municipal government tries to
control the number of new cars on area roads.
"What we want is a well-balanced, comprehensive and sustainable way (to solve
the problem)," Zhou said. "We don't think it's a good idea if we only focus on
short-term returns while catering to a group of people at the cost of another
larger group's interests."
"Even though we have some 10-plus per cent of local residents who will get
cars, how about the rest who cannot afford a car purchase?"
While Shanghai's population has grown close to 19 million, there are about 2
million vehicles on area streets, including about 200,000 owned by individuals.
Zhou's voice could be understood as the local authority's firm response to
criticism from a senior official from the Ministry of Commerce, who was
interviewed earlier by the China Central Television (CCTV), saying that
Shanghai's practices go against China's new road safety law that came into
effect in May.
The official said no government bodies except the domestic public security
departments are entitled to issuing car licence plates, dropping a hint that
Shanghai's practices are illegal.
"The fact the practice has been in place for so many years just indicates its
reasonableness," said Zhou. "Regarding whether it's illegal or not, we think we
need a body that is entitled to give an authoritative judgment on the issue."
Zhou also dismissed rumors that a special bond will be issued by the city in
July that will replace the auction practice since regional governments are not
allowed to do so unless acquiring a go-ahead from the central government.
At Tuesday's routine press briefing held the city government, spokeswoman
Jiao Yang said -- when being asked whether the city's car licence plate bidding
violates the new road traffic safety law -- Shanghai will firmly implement
related State laws and regulations as well as rules passed by the Municipal
People's Congress, the local law-making body.
She also stressed that the practice itself is carried out on a provisional
basis and needs further testing and improvements.
At the latest monthly auction, held last weekend, the average bid-winning
price was about 34,230 yuan (US$4,125) -- over 11,260 yuan (US$1,360) lower than
April -- thanks to the considerable increases in plate quotas. The average
monthly bid-winning price was about 20,956 yuan (US$2,530) for the year 2002.
"It'll be no good if the restriction on new cars is lifted totally since
we've already frequently seen vehicle jams on the roads," said Angela Yang, a
local white-collar worker.
"For such a big metropolis like Shanghai, the priority is definitely public
transport, and there is no other choice," said Chen Xiaohong, a professor of the
transportation engineering school of Tongji University.
