Han Ximin

    ximhan@126.com

    WANG CHUNXIN, 28, who works in Shenzhen’s printing industry, will finally be able to drive his new car back to his hometown for the Spring Festival after getting license plates from the local vehicle administration office in Xili, Nanshan District, yesterday.

    Wang was the first driver to receive license plates since Shenzhen decided to limit vehicle purchases as of Dec. 29 last year in an effort to control vehicle growth and reduce congestion.

    “I have waited for more than a month for the plates,” said Wang, who landed an order in October and paid for a Skoda car Dec. 22.

    Yet while he was waiting for the license plates, the vehicle administration suspended service, following the new restriction rule, which required people who bought cars before Dec. 29 to provide a notary public certificate for vehicle registration. Drivers who bought cars after Dec. 29 can get a quota for car plates through lotteries or auctions, but only 100,000 plate numbers will be available per year.

    “The car has been parked downstairs for a month because my temporary plates, good only for five days, expired long ago,” said Wang.

    Wang got the notary public certificate Feb. 1 and went to the office to choose a car plate number yesterday.

    Yesterday, 2,773 drivers made reservations for car plates, said Li Yang, an officer with the Xili vehicle administration office. Li also encouraged car owners to finish their vehicle registrations by filling out the proper documents, which are available at the office’s official website http://cgs.stc.gov.cn. They can also call 2222-2000 for more information.

    Shenzhen decided to curb auto purchases for an initial period of five years by limiting the number of new car registrations to only 100,000 per year. Of the total, 20,000 will be allocated to purchases of electric cars via a lottery process. The rest of the quota will be for traditional cars and divided between a lottery process and a bidding process.