Academic attacks curbs on car buyers
Print Edition
THE Shenzhen city government has promised to review its recently introduced restrictions on private car purchases after their legitimacy was challenged by an expert in traffic law.
Gu Dasong, an associate professor at Southeast University, wrote to the Guangdong Provincial Legislative Affairs Office on January 6 to complain about the new rules, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.
He argued that the city government’s decision to change the rules on vehicle purchases without soliciting public opinion was a violation of its own road traffic safety management regulations.
On December 29, Shenzhen authorities held a press conference to announce that anyone seeking to buy a car in the city would be required to first acquire a vehicle license plate. They said the new rule would take effect just 20 minutes after the conference.
License plates can be bought at auctions, but there is an annual quota of 100,000.
The snap decision angered many would-be car buyers.
To ensure the rule was enforced, police visited several car dealerships in the city and ordered them to close, according to Xinhua news agency.
An official from the legislative affairs office said Gu’s comments have been passed to the Shenzhen government for review.
The city is one of eight in China — including Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Tianjin — to restrict car purchases as authorities seek to tackle the problems of rising traffic congestion and air pollution.
According to figures from the city government, Shenzhen had more than 3.1 million vehicles as of December 20.
As in Shenzhen, the residents of Tianjin were angered recently when they were given just 5 hours’ notice of similar car purchase restrictions.
Ironically, the announcement resulted in huge traffic jams in areas around car dealerships as people rushed to beat the deadline.
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