Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 23
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran has scrapped over 48,000 old and sub-standard taxies in last fiscal year, Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, the country’s industry, mine and trade minister, said.
The administration is determined to implement the regulation on scrapping old cars polluting air, Nematzadeh said, the Iranian Industry, Mine and Trade Ministry’s SHATA news website reported Apr. 23.
According to a law on scrapping old vehicles, ratified in October 2013, four cars must be scrapped for every imported car.
Nematzadeh further said that the administration implements encouraging methods such as allocating loans for drivers who replace their old cars.
He further said that preventing old and sub-standard cars from plying streets also is method, which can be implemented in this regard.
Nematzadeh also said that his ministry is negotiating to allocate the required loans for replacing old buses and trucks.
According to Hamid Reza Fouladgar, an Iranian MP, over 1.250 million old and sub-standard cars ply streets in Iran and pollute air.
Automobile use in Iran has doubled in the past eight years, and over one million cars on the roads operate more than 20 years old.
Iranian officials say the old and sub-standard vehicles cause over 70 percent of air pollution in megacities.
Almost 1.9 million old cars were scrapped in Iran over the past 12 years.
In recent three years, 247,000 cars were scrapped per year on average, according to Fouladgar.