Govt planning to ban old vehicles
KATHMANDU, June 2:
In an effort to bring down the number of accidents and improve the condition of environment, the government is bringing out ´Transport Policy 2068´ that would make it mandatory not to use vehicles beyond 20 years.
"Records show that outdated and old vehicles are the major reasons behind road accidents, especially in remote areas. We are ending the practice of using any vehicle for unlimited period regardless of their operating condition and fixing the maximum use of vehicle up to 20 years through the proposed policy," Anil Gurung, under-secretary at the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management (MoLTM), told Republica.
The proposed draft of the policy, which is under discussion with stakeholders, envisages to make it mandatory for the importers to commit that vehicles wouldn´t be run for more than 20 years. "We are also making it mandatory to state in the Blue-book for conversion of the vehicle into scrap after 20 years of purchase," said Gurung.
In the absence of any set timeframe for the use of vehicles, they are being used for unlimited time leading to rising accidents due to technical problems in the overused vehicles.
"Keeping in view the soaring fuel import bill, geographical condition, rising motorcycle accidents involving teenagers, we are putting in place the mandatory provision of producing driving license by the buyer of motorcycles at sales outlet," said Gurung.
Officials are also in favor of increasing the minimum age for acquiring driving license to 18 years from existing 16 years. The policy is likely to have provisons that discourage teenagers from riding motorcycles in a bid to avoid accidents involving them.
The policy will also introduce strict financing norms for vehicles, especially motorcycles to discourage the spiraling number of vehicles in urban areas including capital Kathmandu.
Out of the total 1.1 million vehicles plying across the country, the capital alone has over 500,000 motorcycles. More than seventy percent of the total vehicles registered in the capital are motorcycles.
The proposed policy aims at reducing pollution in urban areas by encouraging environment-friendly and fuel-economy vehicles.
The upcoming policy has attempted to bring reforms in the vehicle sector as the existing National Transport Policy introduced in 2000 focuses only on the transport infrastructure.
Source: Republica
In an effort to bring down the number of accidents and improve the condition of environment, the government is bringing out ´Transport Policy 2068´ that would make it mandatory not to use vehicles beyond 20 years.
"Records show that outdated and old vehicles are the major reasons behind road accidents, especially in remote areas. We are ending the practice of using any vehicle for unlimited period regardless of their operating condition and fixing the maximum use of vehicle up to 20 years through the proposed policy," Anil Gurung, under-secretary at the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management (MoLTM), told Republica.
The proposed draft of the policy, which is under discussion with stakeholders, envisages to make it mandatory for the importers to commit that vehicles wouldn´t be run for more than 20 years. "We are also making it mandatory to state in the Blue-book for conversion of the vehicle into scrap after 20 years of purchase," said Gurung.
In the absence of any set timeframe for the use of vehicles, they are being used for unlimited time leading to rising accidents due to technical problems in the overused vehicles.
"Keeping in view the soaring fuel import bill, geographical condition, rising motorcycle accidents involving teenagers, we are putting in place the mandatory provision of producing driving license by the buyer of motorcycles at sales outlet," said Gurung.
Officials are also in favor of increasing the minimum age for acquiring driving license to 18 years from existing 16 years. The policy is likely to have provisons that discourage teenagers from riding motorcycles in a bid to avoid accidents involving them.
The policy will also introduce strict financing norms for vehicles, especially motorcycles to discourage the spiraling number of vehicles in urban areas including capital Kathmandu.
Out of the total 1.1 million vehicles plying across the country, the capital alone has over 500,000 motorcycles. More than seventy percent of the total vehicles registered in the capital are motorcycles.
The proposed policy aims at reducing pollution in urban areas by encouraging environment-friendly and fuel-economy vehicles.
The upcoming policy has attempted to bring reforms in the vehicle sector as the existing National Transport Policy introduced in 2000 focuses only on the transport infrastructure.
Source: Republica
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