License plate costs skyrocket
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E-mail China Daily, March 19, 2012
"The number of people bidding has consistently been close to 25,000 in the past three months, which shows a big market demand for license plates," said Ji Wenjun, a sales director of Shanghai Yongda Group, a car dealer.Shanghai residents cannot buy Jiangsu and Zhejiang province license plates without having IDs for these provinces. "So they just have to bite the bullet and pay for a Shanghai plate," he said.
Residents say the price of a license plate has risen above that of a car.
A man surnamed Shi offered 58,100 yuan on Saturday and was outbid.
"How many of those who use Shanghai license plates are actually Shanghai residents? We are paying for the brokers. Why not get them under control?" Shi asked.
"Prohibiting the transfer and trade of license plates is a direct way to control the broker market," said Liu Chunzhang, a business and management lecturer at Donghua University. "But the devaluation of license plates will greatly reduce revenue. That might be the government's concern."
The reason for beginning the auction was to regulate the number of cars on the road and ease traffic pressure. "However, regardless of the price of a plate, the number of new private cars on the road is still rising at the pace of 8,000 a month," Liu continued.
Some people question the government's claim that the billions of yuan raised by the auction every year go to road construction.
The government should make better use of the money to plan urban transport and provide a comfortable traffic environment, said Li Jianyu, director of Shanghai Haojia Law Firm.
Although some residents oppose auctioning license plates for private cars, Li said it is a fair method. "Otherwise, corruption will be encouraged," he said.
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