The Bhutanese Leading the way.
PM asks MoF to explore privatising pool vehicle system
During the Mid Term Review of the Finance Ministry, the Prime Minister, Dasho Tshering Tobgay, said that recently the Cabinet, in a meeting, had discussed that ministers should use electric duty vehicles within Thimphu and keep some 3 or 4 good Prados in a pool to be used outside Thimphu.
Lyonchhen said that the current duty Prados driven by the ministers had mostly reached the end of their life, and instead of buying new Prados to replace them, it would be better to give ministers electric vehicles to drive within Thimphu.
Lyonchhen said that from the current Prados driven by ministers, only 3 or 4 are in good shape, and these can be pooled and used by ministers when they travel outside Thimphu.
He said the ministers are agreeable to this.
The current Prados were bought at the beginning of the tenure of the second government, as the first government, at the end of its term, had taken home the duty Prados.
An official said that most of the Prados of the ministers are not in good condition due to their age and usage across three governments, and they give problems during long-distance tours.
The price of a Toyota Prado right now is around Nu 5.6 million (mn) without any taxes, and if 13 of these are bought, then the price would be Nu 73.79 mn.
The Prime Minister also asked the Ministry of Finance to see if the pool vehicle system of the government can be privatised, from local transport to inter-dzongkhag transport.
He said that the ministry can look at inviting proposals from the private sector, and there is one possibility that no good proposal would come, but the government will still learn something.
Lyonchhen said that, on the other hand, if a good proposal comes, then the government will not have to invest in expensive pool vehicles.
The Ministry of Finance, in its presentation, said that it is working on reforming the pool vehicle system.
The MoF has been discouraging the purchase of new vehicles unless they are electric vehicles or for services like police, health, etc. It has been allowing the replacement of old pool vehicles to ensure that service delivery is not hampered.
A MoF official said that in the past the practice for new project offices was to first buy new project cars, but now they are being told to hire cars from the private sector instead. The official said this helps the private sector to be ready.
The MoF is developing a fleet management system to collect data on the movement of pool vehicles by tracking them to see what types of movement are happening and which vehicles are moving, and this data will be collected and used.
The main barrier has been what to do with the current government drivers and the current pool vehicles.
The MoF official said that in the long run the aim is to do away with pool vehicles.
