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Gov’t to ban import of vehicles older than five years

Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Aishath Nahula has stated that a legal amendment has been formulated to ban the import of vehicles older than five years. She made the remark during a meeting with the Parliamentary Regulation Review Committee.

During the meeting, committee members expressed concern over the uncontrolled import of vehicles and the registration of numerous vehicles at one garage. In response, Minister Nahula detailed the efforts being made by the administration to implement the relevant regulations to solve the issue. She noted that some garages with registered vehicles have been turned into restaurants and cafés, which were allowed by previous heads of the transport ministry.

Additionally, Minister Nahula said that the uncontrolled import of vehicles and registration at garages is the worst in the Greater Male’ Region. She said the only solution is to amend the Export-Import Act, which currently allows any vehicle to be imported and registered. As such, she said that a detailed report has been submitted to the cabinet ministers on placing an age limit for imported vehicles.

Furthermore, Minister Nahula said that another solution to the congestion in Male’ is to limit the number of vehicles being imported each year. She said that city councils are already required to control imports and that legal amendments will be proposed as they have failed to control the import of vehicles. She further said that the public transport system needs to be improved before limiting the import of vehicles and that the commencement of the minibus services is part of these efforts.

Also at the meeting, Deputy Minister Hamad Abdul Ghanee said the report submitted to the cabinet ministers includes proposals to limit the import of vehicles to specific islands as well as proposals related to the payment of yearly fees. He also said that the report consists of proposals to import environmentally friendly vehicles.