Policymakers address growing vehicle demand, pollution worries(2)

Doubts over policy

Faced with increasing population and heavy traffic, many Chinese cities resort to limiting vehicle ownership, but the policy has caused doubts and dissatisfaction.

Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province is the latest city in China to have introduced a car purchase limit policy.

Starting from 6 pm on December 29, 2014, the city began curbing auto purchases for an initial period of five years, during which there will be an annual vehicle ownership quota of 100,000, the local traffic police announced on its Sina Weibo account on the same afternoon.

However, the local traffic police had declared several times in 2014 that Shenzhen had no plan to set car purchase limits and described the online speculation as "rumors."

As a result, when the announcement was released without any warning, Shenzhen was criticized for harming the government's credibility.

Shenzhen's sudden announcement widens the number of cities with limits on purchases of new vehicles to eight from the existing seven, which are currently Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin municipalities; Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou Province; Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province; Shijiazhuang, capital of North China's Hebei Province; and Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province.

The decision-making process for car purchase limits lacks public discussion, Wang Fengying, a deputy of the National People's Congress (NPC) and president of Great Wall Motors, said in her motion enhancing transport management e-mailed to the Global Times on Wednesday.

Zong Qinghou, chairman of Chinese drinks giant Hangzhou Wahaha Group, submitted a motion to the NPC session, suggesting that auto purchase limits be called off.

The car purchase limit did not solve the problems of traffic jams and air pollution but only held back the development of the auto industry and brought inconvenience to people's daily lives, according to his motion sent to the Global Times on Monday.

New-energy vehicles

A wide discussion about combating smog is ongoing in China, leading to more attention on new-energy vehicles.

China has adopted a series of preferential policies to promote new-energy vehicles, including easier access to car licenses, purchase subsidies as well as tax exemption.

Beijing has set up a separate car license pool for new-energy cars to apply for and Shanghai is even giving free car licenses to new-energy cars, while a license plate for gasoline cars can cost about 70,000 yuan.

From September 2014 to January 2015, about 42,800 owners enjoyed a 10 percent purchase tax exemption, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on February 19.

To encourage the use of new-energy vehicles, local governments have also promised to build a wide charging network.

The number of electric-vehicle (EV)charging stations in Beijing will be doubled by the end of 2015, Xinhua reported on February 11, citing Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission.

Zhang Tianren, a NPC deputy and chairman of battery maker Tianneng Group, suggested in his motion encouraging the use of micro-sized EVs in third-tier cities and rural area while setting up regulations and standards for the manufacturing industry, according to the group's website.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said in January that the sales of new-energy vehicles surged by 324 percent to 75,000 units in 2014 from a year ago and will see robust growth in 2015.