The lavish use of government cars were under fire Monday when advisors meeting at their annual session released the result of a study which shows each government car costs at least 50,000 yuan (US$6,000) a year, but its operating efficiency is only one fifth of a taxi.

"Government cars cause a shocking waste, as the annual cost to keep a taxi is merely around 13 percent of that for a government car," said Sun Jiye, a member of China's top advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) now in its annual full session in Beijing.

"The study also found that only one-third of a government car's service time went to official purposes, with the remaining equally shared by the leading officials and their families or the drivers for personal purposes," added Sun in an open speech at a full meeting of the advisors Monday afternoon.

He therefore called for immediate reform of the country's government transportation system.

Echoing Sun's view, Jiang Xiaoqin, another CPPCC member, said another outstanding problem was that many officials had ignored relevant rules to either purchase luxurious cars or keep cars they are prohibited to keep.

According to Jiang's estimation, the administrative cost of the Chinese government is 25 percent higher than the world's average level, and even higher than that in the Western developed nations.

However, Sun acknowledged that the reform of government transportation had turned out to be a "hard nut" to crack in many places.

"In some places, the government has announced up to 3,000 to 4,000 yuan (US$360-480) of transportation subsidies for the officials after the reform, making the local public very unhappy,” said Sun.

Therefore, he suggested the reform of government transportation be put under the supervision of the public, as well as the people's congresses, or the local legislatures in China, to guarantee its transparency and fairness.

"The central authorities should set forth guidelines for such reform across the country, while it is also necessary to draw good experience of foreign governments in the management of government transportation," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2005)