In a bid to control burgeoning air pollution, Nepal has taken a landmark step to ban all the vehicles that are older than 20 years.<\/p>\n
The Government of Nepal\u2019s decision followed a similar campaign in Kathmandu<\/a> it had initiated in 2017 calling for the ban of around 5000 ages-old vehicles including trucks, buses, among others.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter mid-March, vehicles older than 20 years will not be allowed to drive on the roads. We hope this will help reduce pollution and ease traffic across the country,\u201d says Birendra Bahadur Swar, Spokesman, Department of Transport Management, Nepal.<\/p>\n While this rule exempts taxis, the officials have already banned cars in key parts of Kathmandu to address traffic congestion<\/a> issues in the region.<\/p>\n This decision is part of Nepal Government\u2019s five-year strategic plan by the Physical Infrastructure and Transportation Ministry proposed, on March 14, 2016, to ban old public vehicles<\/p>\n Under the first phase of the plan, the department has already banned 2,500 old vehicles from the Kathmandu.<\/p>\n As per the latest reports, the latest decision will be effective from March 15, 2018.<\/p>\n \u201cMany transport entrepreneurs are involved in buying and selling second-hand vehicles. Those who made recent investment in old vehicles will go into huge loss if the government prevents them from operating,” Bijay Bahadur Swar, Senior Vice-president of Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs (FNNTE) stated earlier this year when the government had called for similar action plan.<\/p>\n “Scrapping old vehicles will pave way for new vehicles to operate. Better fuel efficiency of new vehicles will help entrepreneur to save fuel costs. Most importantly it will help in improving worsening environmental conditions,” says Tokraj Pandey, spokesperson for Department of Transport Management (DoTM).<\/p>\nReaction<\/h4>\n
EPI 2018<\/h4>\n