Motor trade stresses need to control vehicle population
Sri Lankan motor traders warned that traffic congestion in Colombo and some of the other cities including Kandy will become uncontrollable if the new government does not introduce concrete policies on alternate transportation and curb rising vehicle numbers.
Chairman of Ceylon Motor Traders Association (CMTA) Gihan Pilapitiya revealed that the country’s vehicle penetration measured in terms of vehicles per capita (vehicles per 1000 people) and vehicles per km of road is increasing rapidly with flooding of small cars and three wheelers on roads due to recent tax revisions.
The total vehicle population of the country will increase up to nearly 6.5 million by the end of this year owing to simplified taxes and improved consumer confidence amidst a low interest rate environment, he predicted. The government should improve public bus and rail transport systems with monorail network so that people can travel conveniently without being caught up in traffic jams, he said adding that private vehicle users also need to be persuaded to make the move to Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.
Multi-storey car parks should be built at entry points to the city of Colombo while arranging shuttle bus services to the city centre, Mr. Pilapitiya said, speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the 95th AGM of the CMTA in Colombo last week.
He said policies with regard to the automobile trade had been revised 15 times in 2014 by the previous regime but this year there were few such revisions in the light of the change of government.
“If you look at the last five years we have lost a share to the reconditioned used vehicles market mainly due to the hybrid trap,” the CMTA Chairman pointed out. He said that taxes on hybrids were reduced when none of his members had hybrids in their portfolio.
This was one reason for the drop in brand new car imports and the increase of used cars, he said, citing an example in 2014 where there was in excess of 22,700 reconditioned hybrids registered compared to 441 vehicles of brand new hybrids. Mr. Pilapitiya said they have prepared a long term policy paper for the benefit of the trade and it could be presented to policy makers. He disclosed that the CMTA has launched a code of ethics to maintain respectability and credibility among members.
The move was adopted in the wake of allegations against some importers especially of used cars of under-invoicing. The association also adopted a clause stipulating that members could sell brand new vehicles only when they hold the franchise. Mr. Pilapitiya was reappointed Chairman while Sheran Fernando and Reeza Rauf were reappointed as Vice Chairmen of CMTA at the AGM.