Govt publishes public expenses

Sixteen government departments at municipal level, including the commission of education and the health bureau, published their annual budgets Tuesday for "three public expenditures."

Ten departments claim a decrease in expenditure compared with last year.

Eighty municipal departments, except those related to State secrets, are required to disclose their budgets for official overseas trips, all spending on public vehicles and official receptions as of today.

While many departments say they will reduce the budget for overseas trips and official banquets, many have concentrated on cutting their transportation budget, following recent public calls for the numbers of government vehicles to be reduced.

"The main reason contributing to the fact that 10 departments will see smaller budgets this year is that they have decided not to buy vehicles or to spend less on maintenance," the Beijing Daily said yesterday.

From the figures, 12 municipal departments have cut spending on government vehicles, while seven departments, including the Health Bureau and the bureaus of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Drug Administration and Intellectual Property will not purchase any new vehicles this year.

The health bureau explained on its website that "they have suspended plans to buy vehicles as the Beijing municipal government is currently working on a scheme to reform official vehicle use."

The Municipal Commission of Education, which saw the highest government expenditure last year in all three categories, will reduce its spending on official vehicles, although only by 0.16 percent to 8.66 million yuan ($1.37 million) in purchasing and 37 million yuan in maintenance, according to the commission's website.

Zhao Guowei, commission publicity officer said yesterday: "There is not yet any public information about how the money [vehicle budget] will be spent."

"The three public expenditures have long been viewed as the main source of government squandering and even corruption," said Lin Zhe, a professor with the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC, "It's good to see this trend of beginning to reduce expenditure."

"To regularly publicize details of the expenditure is a proper attempt to make the government transparent," Lin said.

In terms of the expenditure on government vehicles, Lin suggested that government officials should change their previous thinking that driving a high-end car reflected their high social status.

"Government should buy fewer official vehicles, and officials should share cars when they are on official travel," she said.

"Also, being able to use a privately-owned car for official purposes should be encouraged," Lin noted.

By April 2011, Beijing had 20,188 vehicles belonging to the municipal government, according to the Beijing Municipal Finance Bureau.