Money charged for private use of govt vehicles

GUANGZHOU - Officials in this city will have to pay when they want to use their government cars for private purposes later this year, a senior city official said.

The price charged in such circumstances is expected to be between 1.5 yuan ($0.23) and 1.7 yuan a kilometer, below the 2.6 yuan a kilometer charged by local taxis, according to Su Zhijia, deputy Party chief of Guangzhou.

"And officials will also have to apply for an approval in advance if they want to use official cars for non-official purposes during the weekends or holidays," Su told deputies of the Guangzhou People's Congress and members of the Guangzhou Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) during ongoing sessions of both organizations.