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October roar: 1,000 new mobikes a day as registrations soar
More than 1,000 motorcycles were registered every day with the Motor Traffic Department last month, showing a roaring increase in the number of registrations, officials said.
Motor Traffic Department Director General S.H. Harischandra said that last month 35,614 motorcycles were registered compared to 24,437 bikes in the previous month.
“We expect that there will be more than 150,000 registrations of bikes in the coming months,” he said. The Motor Traffic Chief said the Government’s concessionary terms to public servants and the pledge during the budget to further expand the concession had dramatically increased the number of registrations.
The Government has offered motorcycles at Rs. 50,000 each to the recipients on concessionary terms. The motorcycles for women are offered at Rs. 45,000 each.
So far this year 196,504 motorcycles have been registered. During the past two months, the registration of hybrid cars also showed a dramatic increase with 3,409 and 3,002 cars registered during September and October respectively. Before September, the average was 2,000 such cars a month. During this year 64,452 three wheelers and 29,021 cars have been registered.
The registration of vehicles is set to increase with the additional tax concessions given for the import of vehicles. The tax on the import of petrol and diesel cars has been reduced by 21 per cent to 29 per cent.
Accordingly the prices of cars up to 800 cc are set to drop by about Rs 300,000. The prices of vans are also set to drop due to the tax concessions.
These Government servants were all smiles when they came to the Sanath Jayasuriya Stadium in Matara on Wednesday to collect the motorcycles which they were given at the concessionary price of Rs. 45,000. Pic by Krishan Jeewaka Jayaruk