VietNamNet Bridge – As of June 24, State agencies had 25,660 public cars, an increase of 6,300 cars since July 2006, when the Government told agencies to stop buying more cars.

This statistic was released by the Public Asset Management Department under the Finance Ministry earlier this week.

According to the report, over 12.73 trillion dong (nearly $750 million) from the State budget was paid for 25,660 cars. However, after depreciation, the value of these cars is only 3.74 trillion dong ($208 million). Hanoi and HCM City have the highest numbers, more than 1,800 units.

It is said that the number of new cars (6,300) is high because the Government instructed agencies to stop buying cars from July 1, 2006 until July 2009.

By July 2006, around 19,300 public cars were used by ministries and State agencies (except for those for defence and security agencies, state-owned enterprises and project management units). Nearly 6,800 cars belonged to central agencies and 12,500 to provincial agencies.

Notably, the values of many car exceed the state regulations.

State agencies bought around 1,100 cars in 2004, 600 in 2005 and just over 100 from January to June 2006.

PV