Govt working on plan to ban old vehicles

KATHMANDU, MAR 06 -

The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) is planning to send a proposal on scrapping public vehicles that are more than 20 years old to the Cabinet.

According to the ministry, it is doing the final preparations to send a proposal seeking a “policy level” decision from the Cabinet.

As of now, it is estimated that 15,500 vehicles that are more than 20 years old are being operated across the country. It’s been more than a decade that the government has been planning to remove old vehicles from the roads. However, the plan has not materialized due to strong objections from transport entrepreneurs.

The scrapping of old vehicles , according to the ministry, is of utmost importance as outdated vehicles not only pose a risk to the lives of passengers but also cause air pollution. Ministry officials said the proposal would be sent to the Cabinet within two weeks after briefing the new Transport Minister Bimalendra Nidhi.

As per the proposal of the ministry, transport entrepreneurs who own public vehicles that are over 20 years old including taxis will get a maximum of two years to scrap their vehicles and import new ones. Similarly, the government will be fixing the operation permit for 20 years for new public vehicles in the blue book (vehicle registration certificate). The ministry said that the whole plan was to make the public transport system safe and reliable.

“Transport entrepreneurs are also positive about our plan,” said Nabin Pokhrel, joint secretary at the ministry. He added that entrepreneurs who scrap their vehicles would be allowed to import new vehicles and operate on the same routes. However, there will be no waiver of customs duty or value added tax on the new vehicles .

To make it easy for transporters to buy new vehicles , the ministry plans to lift the ban on the transfer of vehicle ownership for a temporary period of three months.

This will help transporters who have bought old vehicles in the past without transferring the deed to do so and buy new vehicles . About 10 years ago, the government had banned transferring the deed on old vehicles , and buyers and sellers would conclude their transaction without legal formalities.

Four years ago, the government had tried to ban old vehicles from operating in the Kathmandu valley. But it relented after transporters demanded alternative arrangements before enforcing the rule and a waiver on customs duty to import new vehicles .

Similarly, the then parliamentary Finance and Labour Relations Committee had directed the government two years ago to remove old public vehicles from the roads. But it failed to implement the rule as vehicle owners asked for a customs waiver and the Transport and Finance ministries could not come to an agreement on this issue.

Source: The Kathmandu Post