Harare, Zimbabwe (News of the South)-The country needs a policy thrust that defines the type of cars that can be imported to reflect its stance on the issue of being conscious of environmental damage, a senior government official has said.
Speaking in Harare whilst opening the Global Fuel Economy Initiative Permanent Secretary in The Ministry of Energy and Power Development Partson Mbiriri said the country is currently importing all and sundry and that is dangerous.
“We have to rethink some of the cars that we import, it can’t be bambazonke, even if it is your money but it’s Zimbabwe that has permitted you to have it”.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
“We used to have an Statutory Instrument that stated that vehicles over 8 years on the road should not come in but down the line they were complaints, people are not happy and that SI was removed and we began to import all and sundry”, he said.
Mbiriri said after its removal people have begun importing anything.
“So we are not moving in any specific direction. We should have a policy thrust about the type of vehicles that we import”
“The taxation system should reflect that thrust otherwise we are just wasting our money looking for spare parts”, he added.
The Perm Sec added that some people “even boast that this is one of only six cars in the whole country but at what cost? How much are we losing looking for spare parts for those six cars”, he said.
Zimbabwe has seen a flooding of cheap second hand cars into the country leading to a loss of much foreign currency thereby worsening the cash crisis in the economy.
Some of the cheap imports are accused of worsening the pollution of the environment due to their poor systems.
According to the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA), the country’s vehicle population now stands at 1,2 million, from 800 000 in 2014.
Comments
About Author
