Yogyakarta plans to use rental cars

YOGYAKARTA: As a way of promoting efficiency in the new era of regional autonomy, the Yogyakarta provincial administration plans to use rental cars, Governor Sultan Hamengku Buwono X said.

"We are calculating whether using rental cars is more efficient than buying official cars, because under regional autonomy the provincial administration will no longer get a subsidy from the central government to purchase officials cars and to cover their maintenance," he said here on Tuesday.

The governor declined to mention the number of cars needed by the provincial administration or how much the administration spent annually on their maintenance.

He did say that it would be a financial burden should the provincial administration have to continue covering the maintenance costs for the cars.

"With rental cars, we just have to return them to the owners when there are maintenance problems. Then we will get replacement vehicles from the same owners in exchange," he said.

The maintenance costs reportedly are high because numerous official cars frequently are used by local officials' for personal purposes.

"Besides, each month we have to pay more than 5,000 civil servants employed in numerous government departments' local offices," he added. --JP