The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) is preparing to send a proposal mandating old public vehicle owners to get rid of their vehicles within two years to the Cabinet for approval within a month.
As per the proposal of MoPIT, the government will allow transporters to import new vehicles after scrapping the old ones and such new vehicles will be permitted to operate in the same route where the old vehicles are operating at present.
“Operation of new vehicles in the same route is a one-time facility for transporters scrapping old vehicles,” said Nabin Pokhrel, joint secretary at MoPIT. He said that the government will also set a maximum operation period of 20 years to any new vehicle in the bill book and the vehicle registration certificate, and after the operation permit limit expires, such vehicles will not be allowed to operate in the country.
Earlier, transport entrepreneurs had demanded customs waiver of as high as 50 per cent to import new vehicles. After the government assured to allow operation of new vehicles in the same route, transporters are also positive about scrapping their old vehicles, according to MoPIT officials. It is estimated that there are around 16,000 public vehicles including buses, mini buses, trucks and taxis plying the roads, that are more than 20 years old.
Yogendra Karmacharya, president of the Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs said that they are ready to remove old vehicles and have asked that the government to first lift the ban imposed on transferring ownership of old vehicles. “Since such vehicles are being sold and bought without legal formalities, lifting the ban on ownership transfer will help legitimise real owners of the vehicles,” he added.
Karmacharya, however, said that the decision regarding whether to provide any facility or not to owners of old vehicles will have to be decided later after determining the total number of old vehicles and their real owners. Based on the demand of the transporters, MoPIT is also preparing to lift the ban on ownership transfer temporarily for three-month period.
Old vehicles that have been in operation for more than 20 years possess the risk of road accidents and are also a major reason behind air pollution, according to MoPIT. Once the Cabinet endorses the proposal, it will be mandatory for public transport operators to scrap old vehicles.
The existing transport law does not restrict vehicle owners from operating vehicles even if the vehicles are more than 20 years old. For instance, owners of old buses and cabs wishing to bring new ones can simply sell their vehicles to other zones and get new vehicles registered in the same number at present.
Currently, there are 5,500 taxis in Bagmati zone and a majority of them are as old as 20 years. The government had stopped registration of new cabs in Bagmati 14 years ago.
http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Govt+set+to+remove+20-year-old+public+vehicles&NewsID=410283
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