Sri Lanka considering removing old vehicles off roads
View(s):Sri Lanka is seriously considering the possibility of removing old 15 years and over unroadworthy vehicles numbering around 1.2 million from the roads to meet more efficient transportation needs of urban areas, Transport Ministry sources said. Old vehicles have been one of the major causes for road traffic accidents, vehicular congestion and air pollution.
The Motor Traffic Department (MTD) has been directed to devise legislation providing regulations to prohibit the use of old vehicles on roads and empowering the traffic police to seize un-roadworthy vehicles, a senior department official said. This is one of the measures suggested in the Urban Transport Master Plan for Greater Colombo prepared with Japanese funding, he said, adding that the new Transport Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva is keen to implement the plan.
Welcoming the move, Past Chairman, Ceylon Motor Traders Association (CMTA), Tilak Gunasekera told the Business Times that the government should devise a scheme to persuade franchised motor vehicle importers to buy old vehicles for scrap so that they could be removed from the roads or to exchange the old one with a new model.
He said that there should be a mechanism to encourage consumers to opt for brand new vehicles and increase duty/tax band for reconditioned vehicles. Sri Lanka opened the floodgates to re-conditioned vehicle imports from Japan and some other countries, regardless of the age of the vehicles in the late 1970s.