Top Biz News

City hoping to break gridlock

By Shen Jingting (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-08 07:59

Beijing government is planning to bring in incentives, including raising car-parking fees in the downtown area, in a bid to ease congestion.

Zhao Lei, a member of Beijing municipal commission of development and reform, said at a press conference yesterday the government has been evaluating plans to deal with the increasing challenges faced by a city that has 4 million cars and more than 20 million residents.

He said the plan to hike car-parking fees will be put into place later this year, but details are still being worked out.

"We will not take any compulsory measures, but just some incentives. Let Beijing residents choose their transport tools reasonably," he said.

The city will also put 1,200 electric cars into operation this year, to encourage the use of clean energy, said Zhang Gong, director of Beijing municipal commission of development.

Zhang was speaking at the commission's annual working conference yesterday.

Some pilot recharging stations will also be built within the year to service the electric cars and allow experts to gather information before a further expansion.

Latest statistics show that there are 66.1 cars for every 100 families in Beijing. Emissions are growing and traffic gridlock is getting worse, he said.

Zhang said Beijing has already entered the "car age", but he said the government will not use administrative measures to prevent people from purchasing cars.

"Because people are getting richer, they are capable of buying more expensive things, like cars," Zhao said. "We would like to see people buying cars, since car consumption is a major force to spur Beijing's economic growth now."

More than 700,000 cars were sold in Beijing last year, said Su Hui, former general manager of Yayuncun auto market, the largest in Beijing.

Beijing Automobile Industry Holdings Ltd, which is controlled by the city government and which has joint ventures with Hyundai and Mercedes Benz, sold 1.24 million cars nationwide and generated sales of 115 billion yuan ($16.84 billion) last year.

The Chinese government has extended the purchase tax on some cars and launched more aggressive policies on trade-in cars for this year.

"I am about to buy a car," said Shen Tong, a 28-year-old who works for a securities company. "But if the government decides to raise the parking fee, it may deter my purchase plan."

According to a report issued by Beijing municipal commission of development and reform yesterday, Beijing is likely to reach a 9.5 percent economic growth last year, exceeding many people's expectations.

"We predict the per capita GDP of Beijing surpassing $10,000 last year," said Zhang Gong, director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Development.