Why Replace the Official Vehicle with Remaining Durability?

The Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly, which should be saving and economizing the taxpayers' money of Gyeonggi Province residents during the worst real economy situation, is suffering from suspicions of budget waste.

The assembly is replacing the chairman's vehicle which still has remaining durability and promoting the purchase of mobile phones for the convenience of civil servants.

According to the Provincial Assembly on the 22nd, ahead of deliberation in November, the 2009 budget includes 144 million won for the purchase of three new official vehicles and 5.5 million won for the purchase of 11 mobile phones for business purposes in 11 professional committee offices. The assembly has requested that the province reflect these in the budget.

The Provincial Assembly allocated 80 million won as budget for replacing the chairman's vehicle and a total of 60 million won for the purchase and replacement of business vehicles.

The Hyundai Equus vehicle driven by current Chairman Jin Jong-seol (Grand National Party, Goyang) was purchased in July 2004 for approximately 60 million won and has not exhausted the five-year durability period stipulated by the provincial official vehicle management rules.

An official from the Provincial Assembly stated, "It is true that the durability period of the chairman's vehicle still remains," and added, "Due to long-distance driving and increased mileage, as well as relatively higher vehicle maintenance costs, we have allocated budget for replacement."

In response, Park Mi-jin, secretary-general of the Democratic Labor Party Provincial Chapter, said, "It is incomprehensible to replace official vehicles when citizens are struggling with economic hardship," and pointed out that "in the case of official vehicles, maintenance and management are well-maintained and citizens typically drive cars for an average of 10 years, so it is inexplicable to replace vehicles with remaining durability."

Along with criticisms that it was premature to allocate replacement budget for vehicles with remaining durability, questions have also been raised about the appropriateness of the purchase budget.

The 80 million won set by the Provincial Assembly for replacement costs is sufficient to purchase top-of-the-line models from domestic automakers such as Hyundai and Ssangyong.

An official from a civic organization stated, "Due to financial crisis and deteriorating construction business, the government is announcing stimulus measures, and ordinary people are suffering from economic crisis," and pointed out that "it is difficult to avoid the criticism of wasting taxes when the assembly, which should be addressing people's livelihoods and judging the appropriateness of provincial budget execution, pursues the highest standards."

There is also much debate over the budget for purchasing mobile phones that civil servants claimed they would use for overseas business trips and other work purposes.

An official from the Provincial Assembly said, "When employees of professional committee offices go on domestic and international business trips, they frequently need to contact their respective assembly members using personal mobile phones," and explained that "this is why we are purchasing separate business phones."

However, it is difficult to avoid criticism that currently, in the case of overseas business trips, sufficient alternatives such as international roaming services can be considered, and in the context of economic downturn, this may be an inappropriate budget allocation for cost reduction.

Jung Mo (32, female), a resident of Pajang-dong, Suwon, expressed frustration, saying, "In a situation where I feel the economic crisis so acutely that even grocery shopping is frightening and my wallet grows thin, it is incomprehensible that civil servants are buying business mobile phones citing inconvenience and the chairman is purchasing a usable new vehicle."

Particularly, given that this situation emerged at a time when the political situation is in turmoil due to suspicions of improper receipt of "rice income support funds," provincial residents' scrutiny is expected to intensify toward the assembly's actions.