What kind of vehicles do the Deputy Ministers of Finance use to get to work?

Instead of stepping out of government-issued vehicles, on the morning of October 3rd, many Deputy Ministers used personal cars, taxis, or hired vehicles to get to work after the Ministry of Finance implemented a policy of contracting out the use of government vehicles.

The policy of allocating a fixed allowance for transportation costs from home to work for Deputy Ministers was officially implemented by the Ministry of Finance from the beginning of October. On the morning of October 3rd, instead of being transported by government vehicles,Deputy Minister Nguyen Huu Chi commutes to work by taxi. He proactively gets out of the car at the Ministry's gate at 28 Tran Hung Dao (Hanoi) and walks inside carrying his briefcase.

Similarly, the Deputy MinisterHuynh Quang Hai,Vu Thi Mai, Do Hoang Anh Tuan, Tran Xuan Ha, and Tran Van Hieu also stepped out of the Ministry's lobby from white-plated cars, including some they drove themselves and others they rented monthly from transportation service providers...

The Ministry of Finance is pioneering a pilot program to allocate funds for the use of official vehicles for six Deputy Ministers and other leadership positions with a position allowance coefficient of 1.25 (Director General and equivalent). Accordingly, the monthly allowance for transporting these officials from their residences to their workplaces is calculated based on the allocated number of kilometers and the rates of popular four-seater taxis on the market. Each individual is allocated funds for two round trips per workday.

A Deputy Minister stated that he and his colleagues strongly support this initiative and that he himself purchased two prepaid taxi cards (each worth 5 million VND) through a company specializing in providing transportation services. Given his position and the distance from his home to work, he is allocated approximately 7 million VND for transportation costs.

A Deputy Minister of Finance proactively signed a contract to hire a private transportation company for shuttle services using a prepaid card system. Photo: Thanh Lan.

Representatives from the Department of Public Assets Management under the Ministry of Finance stated that the outsourcing of official vehicles will be implemented cautiously, not indiscriminately, to ensure efficiency. Initially, only the travel expenses of leaders from home to work will be outsourced. However, according to experts, this policy needs to be expanded to address the biggest challenge: the limited number of vehicles and the need to restrict the fleet of government vehicles.

According to a recent report from the Ministry of Finance, the annual cost of paying drivers' salaries, depreciation, repairs, fuel, etc., to maintain each government vehicle is equivalent to approximately 320 million VND.

According to VNE