LOOKING back at the year 2007, which has only one month to go, Internet users of the popular news Web site www.oeeee.com have voted for the top issues that they regarded as “deceptive” or “misleading” from a number of hot issues listed on the Web site by an observant netizen who calls himself “esonglee.”
Questions have been raised over the issues, and related government agencies have responded to the issues.
Welfare housing?
IN early 2007, Mayor Xu Zongheng promised 6,000 low-rent and government-subsidized apartments for low-income families by the end of this year. Yet a brief investigation by the Southern Metropolis Daily showed that only 180 of the 6,000 government-subsidized apartments had been allocated to the city’s low-income families, while the rest had been rented to public servants.
Government response:
According to related regulations, only Shenzhen hukou holders are eligible for government-subsidized apartments. So, the actual number of low-income families eligible for the housing is around 500.
In addition, government subsidies for the city’s low-income families were mostly realized in the form of cash, which created a wrong impression among the general public that the government had failed to fulfill its promise.
TransCard rent
Most users of the TransCard, also known as Shenzhentong card, are bitter about the 0.5-yuan (US$0.07) monthly rent they are charged in addition to the 30-yuan deposit they pay when purchasing the card.
The card company has lowered the deposit from 40 yuan to 30 yuan in response to the government’s call to lower the cost of public transport to discourage the use of private cars on the city’s already congested roads.
Many card users compare the TransCard with Hong Kong’s Octopus card, which has a HK$50 deposit which is fully refunded when the card is returned.
Card company response:
It is unfair to compare the TransCard with the Octopus card without taking into account the nature of the two companies.
Hong Kong’s Octopus card company is a financial institution while Shenzhen TransCard is not. Shenzhen TransCard is not allowed to invest the deposit money to help cover the company’s operating costs, while the Hong Kong company can. The interest paid on money deposited in a bank is marginal.
Public hearings = Price hikes?
Some Shenzhen residents have cast doubt over the role of public hearings which are supposed to serve the best interests of the public. Some people say that prices, including garbage collection fee, cable TV fee and parking fee among others, have gone up after public hearings.
Government response:
People have misunderstood the actual meaning and process of a public hearing, which does not necessarily guarantee lower prices. A public hearing is a legal procedure that a government conducts to solicit extensive public opinion before setting a price or consenting to a price increase proposed by a company.
In fact, the government has objected to a number of unreasonable proposals to raise prices without holding public hearings. There were also some cases where, after public hearings, prices went up by a smaller percentage than originally proposed. For example, the cable TV rent was set at 28 yuan per month, six yuan lower than the 34 yuan proposed.
When will hukou be removed?
Shenzhen hukou has been an insurmountable barrier for many residents rendering them ineligible for some government subsidies.
It has been proposed that Shenzhen hukou should be removed to let those in need who are not hukou holders benefit from government subsidies.
Government response:
The hukou is not unique to Shenzhen but exists throughout the whole of China. It is beyond the municipal government’s power to retain or remove it.
Nevertheless, the government has prepared planning programs through 2007-2020 that will take non-hukou holders into the city’s welfare system.
Bus fare reduction scheme ‘deceptive’
The city’s top leaders vowed in March to lower bus fares, the highest on the mainland, before Oct. 1. And it finally will be introduced Saturday. But the scheme has turned out to be “deceptive” according to many passengers who say they will actually have to pay more.
The Shenzhen Bus Group promised that current fares that are lower than those stipulated in the new system would remain unchanged.
The group said TransCard holders were eligible to discounts ranging from 20 to 35 percent on all its buses.
Taxis still expensive
Shenzhen’s taxi fares remain the highest on the mainland despite the government promising to cut the flagfall price from 12.5 yuan to 10 yuan in 2004, following a public hearing.
Earlier this year, the government announced taxi fares would be tied to fuel prices to counter rising costs, which means they will certainly rise since international oil prices have been continuing to rise.
Cheaper drugs off the shelf
Hospitals and drug stores have become the targets of complaints that they have stopped selling medicines at lower prices after State-ordered drug price cuts.
A Futian District hospital blamed pharmaceutical factories, saying they were moving to produce expensive drugs to make money or playing games with “old wine in new bottles.” By repackaging common drugs and submitting them for approval as “new drugs,” some pharmaceutical plants were able to sell the original drugs at higher prices.
It is no secret that most hospitals have been allowed to charge a fee on drugs they sell because they are severely underfunded. As the fee is capped at 15 percent of the cost of drugs, it becomes self-evident that hospitals will prefer to sell more expensive drugs. (Li Jing, Wei Jie)
