Buy parking space before car in Shanghai

Beijing, May 6 (IANS) To tackle the rising menace of parking, the authorities in China's Shanghai city are going to ban residents from buying cars in future if they failed to secure a parking space in advance.

According to the Shanghai police, the new policy will require people to prove to the government that "they have already acquired a car space" to purchase a vehicle, Shanghai Daily reported.

It means that potential car buyers would have to rent or buy a car park space first, as a pre-condition to buy a vehicle.

Details and the timetable for the new rule are still being discussed. The government hopes to use the new strategy to control the city's deteriorating parking lot shortage.

According to traffic police, in some cities abroad between 5 to 10 percent of urban parking capacity comes from dedicated garage buildings, which offer big parking capacity. But in Shanghai, the percentage is only one percent, with the rest supported by garages inside shopping malls and office buildings and legal street-side parking zones.

Local authorities said they would relieve the shortfall by building more space-efficient garages inside local neighbourhoods.

The local government says it relies on the monthly car plate auction to help control the number of automobiles on local roads. But despite skyrocketing plate prices, the number of locally registered cars continues to soar, reaching about two million at present.