Home ›› 18 May 2023 ›› Front
No bus older than 20 years, and truck 25 years, will be allowed to run anywhere in the country as the government has fixed those durations as their respective economic life.
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) said such vehicles will be sent to dumping stations without any exception. It said no vehicles exceeding their economic life would be issued fitness certificates from any BRTA offices in the future.
The owners of expired vehicles will not be able to register new vehicles in their names until the old ones are scrapped. Those having scrap certificates may get special privileges while registering new vehicles.
Besides, mobile courts led by BRTA and district administrations will work on keeping the expired vehicles off the road. The drivers and owners may face punishment under the existing laws for operating such vehicles, BRTA Chairman Nur Mohammad Mazumder told The Business Post on Wednesday.
The official notification in this regard published on Wednesday said the 20-year economic life will be applicable to buses and minibuses while it will be 25 years for all goods-laden vehicles like trucks and covered vans.
“No other country in the world allows such old vehicles to ply. We did not have a policy on vehicles’ economic life before. That is why such vehicles would get fitness certificates.
“But this will not continue. Now, buses and trucks exceeding their economic life will be automatically removed from our registration system,” the BRTA chairman said.
He also said the move will come into effect once the gazette is issued.
Besides, he said the decision on vehicles’ economic life has been made after holding a series of meetings with the organisations of owners of buses and trucks as well as other stakeholders. “They said they will help the government remove those vehicles from the road.”
The authorities will follow the Motor Vehicle Scrap Policy 2023 to dump and scrap the expired vehicles. The Road Transport and Highways Division published a draft of the policy on its website on Wednesday.
The economic life limit will not be applicable to privately-owned vehicles, such as cars, microbuses, motorcycles etc.
“Private vehicles are normally maintained well, and owners collect fitness certificates regularly. When an owner sees that the vehicle is beyond repair and consuming excess fuel, they do not use it as it becomes a burden in terms of expenses. We do not think we need to fix an economic life for such vehicles,” Nur explained.
What the scarp policy says
The draft policy said due to the lack of the end of life cycle or disposal system, unfit, decommissioned, and expired vehicles are plying roads and highways and adversely affecting the environment, including road safety.
Removing such vehicles through scrapping or disposal will improve road safety and orderliness in the road transport sector, it said.
Motor vehicles will be scrapped if they are beyond their specified economic life; declared unserviceable by the government or autonomous or private bodies; and damaged by fire, explosives, natural calamities, or accidents so that they are not economically viable to be repaired or they have not been disposed of by court or any competent authorities.
Besides, owners can voluntarily hand over vehicles if they feel those are beyond repair. Law enforcers can send vehicles for scrapping if those are unauthorised or prohibited by the government.
The usable parts of the scrapped vehicles can be recycled and used further, the policy added.
Scrapping process
The scrapping process will be conducted by selected private companies called scrap vendors. They will be registered and equipped with proper gear and manpower.
They will have the space to keep a minimum of 50 vehicles in the yard. The authorities will inspect the vendors every now and then.
After a vehicle passes its economic life, the owner will hand over its papers to BRTA, which will then give those to the scrap vendor. The vendor will finish scrapping in the presence of representatives of the government, said the draft policy.
In case of abandoned or seized vehicles, the court, police, or the customs authorities will apply to BRTA to send those to the scrap yard. The vendor will scrap the vehicles in a way so that those cannot be reused. The vendor will preserve all records.
After a vehicle is scrapped, the authorities will publish the registration number through a gazette notification and issue a scrap certificate. There will be a dedicated wing of the government to oversee the vehicle scrapping process.
There will also be a government committee, which will decide which parts of a scrapped vehicle can be sold as recyclable and their prices. The vendor will be able to sell the parts that can be recycled and reused. The owner of a scrapped vehicle will get financial benefits from the vendor, the draft policy added.
