New transport policy to limit auto imports
The Ministry of Labour and Transport Management (DoLTM) is drafting a new transport policy aimed at controlling auto imports and taking old vehicles off the roads.
The policy targets limiting the import of two-wheelers in particular following the massive increment in their import during the last few years. Officials at the ministry said that they would soon complete a draft of the policy, hold consultations with the concerned stakeholders and forward it to the cabinet for its approval.
Earlier, the government had introduced National Transport Policy 2001. However, ministry officials said that it was more focused on roads than on better managing the transport sector. The proposed National Transport Policy 2011 is aimed at controlling auto imports, removing old vehicles, encouraging eco-friendly electric vehicles and fuel-efficient cars and improving management of the transport sector.
“It has become urgent to manage the transport sector in a better way with a new policy to control auto imports which have been increasing rapidly annually,” said Anil Gurung, under-secretary at the ministry. He added that the government could also put a quota restriction on the import of motorcycles. There were 1.12 million vehicles registered in the country as of the first eight months of the current fiscal year. Among them, there are 839,683 motorcycles and 119,059 cars, jeeps and vans. Similarly, 35,000 plus units have been registered under the bus and minibus category.
Thanks to a weak public transport system and easy auto loans, vehicle import has been rising every year. A DoLTM data shows that vehicle registration in the country surged by almost 25 percent in last fiscal year. The fiscal year 2009-10 alone saw an addition of 201,787 vehicles in the country.
Apart from managing the transport sector, last year’s record balance of payment (BoP) deficit also forced the policymakers to work on a new transport policy. In the last fiscal year, a total of Rs 23.77 billion was spent in the import of vehicles and spare parts, an increment of 47.18 percent.
An official at the Department of Transport said that even though registrations of vehicles were increasing each year, development of roads had not progressed at a desired pace despite the sector’s huge contribution to revenue collection. “The government has not been able to remove old public vehicles that are more than 20 years old, and there is also the problem of the syndicate system. We are hopeful that this policy will be something new to address these types of problems,” the official added.
The government has long been trying to remove old vehicles from the roads, however, the plan has not succeeded under opposition from transport entrepreneurs seeking a higher rate of customs duty waiver on the import of new vehicles.
There are an estimated 60,000 public vehicles in the country, and around 10 percent of them are more than 20 years old. Gurung said that they would finish drafting the proposed policy by mid-May.
Posted on: 2011-04-25 09:33
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