Local residents in Shanghai, including those from other provinces and expatriates with temporary residency, can bid for 35 cars from a local state-owned enterprise, which is selling them as part of the official automobile reform.

The auction will take place at the Shanghai Auction Corp on Sichuan Road N. at 10am on April 24. There is no special qualification for the bidders.

It is the first time that ordinary residents are being allowed to take part in such an auction. Earlier, only employees of the enterprises could attend.

Shanghai auction Corp estimated that the total value of the 35 cars is about 3 million yuan (US$361,446).

"Most of the cars are sedans, with two or three microbuses. There are no expensive brands," said Lin Yiping, manager of Shanghai Auction, which declined to identify the enterprise.

By the end of 2003, there were about 500,000 official automobiles in the city's government departments, public facilities like schools and hospitals, and state-owned enterprises. Most such vehicles also had special drivers. Nevertheless, there have always been concerns about resource abuse, high financial waste and inefficient use for these official automobiles.

The city launched the automobile reform last year. Minhang District was the first to undergo a trial, as all the 2,000-plus top officials in the district are given a one-off subsidy to buy cars or provided a monthly allowance to cover their traffic costs.

The ostensible reason for official automobiles was to make it convenient for officials and improve their efficiency. But in actual fact, only one-third of the time the cars are used for official purposes, mostly officials or their drivers ply the vehicles for individual use, said an official in charge of the trial in Minhang.

Local auction industry insiders said that the official automobile auction is the most effective and direct method to deal with official cars and enhance reform. This can also prevent waste of state-owned property.

Source: Shanghai Daily news