China's vehicle-use reform will now be expanded to the local level after its successful start in 2014 at the central government level.
More effort, however, is still needed for the full potential of the reform to be reached.
Reform at the central government level last year was successfully implemented. The next stage is expected to be completed before 2015 ends, according to a timetable provided by central authorities in July 2014.
Once the next stage is implemented, officials below the ministerial level would not have government-issued vehicles and drivers to take them to places they need to be. Rather, officials would have to take public transport using the traffic subsidies provided to them.
Even though the use of government-issued vehicles has been a common practice for a long time, it is now considered a corrupt activity. It was even given the label of "corruption on wheels," considering the huge costs to maintain such practice.
In 2014, it was estimated that maintaining and using government vehicles for the private purposes of officials amounted to 4.1 billion yuan. This was already 126 million yuan less than in 2013, which means that the effects of the reform were starting to materialize.
According to Jia Kang, the head of the ministry's Research Institute for Fiscal Science, if the reforms continue, expenditure on government vehicles will be further reduced by half.
However, if the associated policies and regulations are not going to be planned well, corruption would still have a chance to rear its ugly head.