Public car contract: Officials rent their own cars and drivers?

How to contract public vehicles appropriately and according to set criteria is a matter of concern for many experts.

Contracting public vehicles is an important content of state administrative reform, including public finance and public spending reform. Contracting public vehicles is a content in the innovation of state management and the public service system. This content is being considered by Ho Chi Minh City. However, how to contract public vehicles appropriately and according to the set criteria is a matter of concern for many experts.

Some people think that you should rent a car to save money.

Mr. Vo Van Hoan - Chief of Office of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee stated: "The most important thing to effectively implement the public car contract is to contract it to the end. Officials in leadership positions do not have to use state cars but must use their own cars. All money is put into their salaries, officials hire their own drivers to drive. When using public cars, they must know how to save and use them for the right purposes."

Currently, the number of officials with a position allowance of 1.25 in the public car contract of Ho Chi Minh City according to the regulations of the Ministry of Finance is not much. Mainly officials in the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee, People's Committee, Standing Committee of the City People's Council. Meanwhile, the Directors of Departments and Chairmen of districts and towns of the city are not equipped with private cars or private drivers but have to share cars. The city is considering and calculating the public car contract together with the construction of the Public Car Management Center project.

Dr. Pham Sanh, an expert on urban transport, said: Public vehicles are only used for public purposes and should be included in the budget. Each agency must calculate to use the vehicles reasonably. Officials and civil servants can buy cars, use public transport or rent cars, but must be within the prescribed budget. The world has done this for a long time and Vietnam should follow this form.

As for Ho Chi Minh City, Dr. Pham Xanh said that if a center is established to manage and operate all public vehicles of all departments and branches, it will not be feasible. Because this model has been implemented for decades and has had to be abolished.

Discussing the establishment of a public vehicle management center, Dr. Vu Anh Tuan, former Deputy Director of the Institute of Leadership and Public Policy, Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, said: Public vehicle contracts should be directly included in salaries. If a public vehicle center is established and managed by the State, it will further complicate the policy.

Dr. Vu Anh Tuan explained: “In a market mechanism, everyone must be equal in terms of services. If possible, there should be a salary allowance in each region for public employees, which would be more acceptable.”

According to Dr. Tran Du Lich, former Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Ho Chi Minh City, if we want to implement the contract for public vehicles, we must first deal with the misuse of public vehicles before considering the next steps. Because for a long time, the abuse of public vehicles for private purposes has been very common, but the handling has not been strict.

In the context that Ho Chi Minh City is trying to find solutions to increase budget revenue because since 2017, the budget allocation rate left for the city has decreased from 23% to 18%, the allocation of public vehicles is one of the necessary contents to implement in order to practice thrift, fight waste, and reduce public spending.

Mr. Tran Vinh Tuyen - Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, said: "If possible, in the future, we should not invest in buying public cars anymore but should rent cars. Renting cars means we don't have to buy cars, don't have to maintain them, don't have to replace them, we just have to pay the rent."

Contracting public vehicles is difficult and requires time for discussion to be implemented effectively. According to economic experts, if the contract for public vehicles is implemented, it will help solve the following problems: first, it will help increase labor productivity and quality, thereby contributing to the country's GDP growth; second, it will save money and prevent waste, especially corruption./.

According to VOV