If the number of public vehicles is reduced, what will the surplus drivers do?

After reducing public vehicles, the surplus drivers need to be retrained for arrangement. If they cannot meet the job requirements, they must be downsized.

The Prime Minister has just issued Directive No. 31/CT-TTg on strengthening management and improving the efficiency of using public assets.

One of the contents of the Directive is to request the Ministry of Finance to urgently submit to the Prime Minister to amend and supplement Decision No. 32/2015/QD-TTg dated August 4, 2015 of the Prime Minister, in which the unit price for car use expenses is amended to suit each group of positions with usage standards and norms for cars for general work; strive to reduce by 30% - 50% the number of cars for general work currently equipped for ministries, branches and localities, except for units in mountainous areas, islands and particularly difficult areas.

At the same time, determine the roadmap for implementing the car usage budget regime applicable to the positions of deputy minister and equivalent, and cars for general work.

Speaking to the press, National Assembly delegate Luu Binh Nhuong - Standing member of the National Assembly's Committee on Social Affairs expressed his full support for the Prime Minister's Directive, because currently the use of public vehicles is still wasteful.

National Assembly Delegate Luu Binh Nhuong

According to the roadmap, the Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Finance to coordinate with ministries and branches to develop a project, in which it is necessary to re-evaluate the current status of public vehicle use, labor and social security issues, especially solving jobs for the current team of drivers of ministries, branches, central and local government agencies.

“Regarding the issue of reducing public vehicles, we can consider auctioning off the surplus vehicles. In my opinion, the important issue is to solve the employment problem for the surplus workers who are drivers in state agencies. We need to carefully study the characteristics of this driver team to retrain them for arrangement, if they cannot meet the requirements, we will streamline them” – Mr. Nhuong stated his opinion.

Delegate Pham Tat Thang - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture, Education, Youth and Children also emphasized two factors related to this issue: means and workers.

Regarding vehicles, according to Mr. Thang, after reviewing and calculating the usage needs of each agency, the number of vehicles that need to be reduced will be auctioned to recover part of the assets for the state.

In addition, it is necessary to study the method of contracting public vehicles in accordance with reality to encourage those who are qualified to use public vehicles to contract vehicles. In addition, it is necessary to strictly regulate the purchase of public vehicles to avoid increasing the number of public vehicles in the future.

In particular, reducing public vehicles will mean a surplus of drivers, so rearranging the workforce is very important. The National Assembly delegate of Vinh Long province said that for drivers with many years of experience and old age, they should be encouraged to retire early. As for drivers who still have a lot of time to work, there should be a training plan to change careers or reassign other jobs. If they cannot meet the requirements, the agency or unit should boldly terminate the contract to streamline the payroll.

“To implement the Prime Minister's Directive by 2020, there are only more than 3 years left, so there needs to be a great political determination from management agencies such as the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Home Affairs to soon have specific instructions and roadmaps on how many vehicles and people to reduce each year to achieve the set goals” – delegate Pham Tat Thang emphasized./.

According to VOV