Prime Minister stops state organizations from driving luxury cars in the city

The average cost per day for driving a large, well-equipped, luxury vehicle in the city is 112 thousand MNT, and can add up to 30 to 35 million MNT a year. The government is looking to take pressure off of state budget spending by cutting expenses in luxury consumption, beginning with ending the use of luxury vehicles for city transport. Prime Minister Ch.Saikhanbileg also announced on Wednesday that in 2015, no state organizations will be permitted to buy new vehicles.
The Prime Minister hosts the weekly meeting “Hour of Solutions” on Wednesdays and addresses the most pressing problems facing the nation. In the first Hour of Solutions meeting, the Prime Minister ordered all ministries, governmental agencies, and state-owned organizations to stop the use of high fuel consuming luxury vehicles. He issued requirements for state organizations and authorities to only use well-equipped, large vehicles for official appointments in the provinces and to only drive cars that consume less than 16 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers in the city.
Ending the use of large luxury vehicles bought with state funds in Ulaanbaatar not only represents big savings, but is also an issue of etiquette. Like private companies do not drive luxury cars for city work, state organizations should also not drive luxury vehicles in the city, pleaded the Prime Minister.
“We won’t seize large vehicles that state organizations are driving and sell them. Instead, these cars should be taken from places where large vehicles are not needed and should be transferred to place that are in need of large vehicles,” he added.
Currently, 68 luxury vehicles have been seized so far. Fifty of them are large vehicles and 18 are passenger cars. Acting Chairman of the State Property Committee Sh.Solongo said that a decision has been made to distribute some 40 vehicles to the General Authority for Border Protection, its affiliated border checkpoints and border inspection services, and to transfer the remaining vehicles to the local branches of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Mongolia.
She noted that some agencies and ministries which have received the State Property Committee’s notice to give up luxury vehicles still haven’t returned the cars. There are 80 vehicles marked for seizure. Large vehicles of the National Emergency Management Agency won’t be seized due to the agencies operational needs, she added.
The government’s motor depot has built a new garage for 400 cars. Vehicles available for travel to the provinces and long distances will be kept there. Garages that belonged to state budget-organizations will be sold at auction and income from the sales will be directed to the state budget, Sh.Solongo said.