BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25
By Fidan Babayeva – Trend:
Almost 80 percent of the used cars in Azerbaijan's passenger car fleet are older 10 years, Rasim Sattarzade, head of the environmental policy department of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, told Trend.
“The new cars which are not older two years make up one percent of the country's car fleet, which is very bad in terms of the state of the environment and public health,” head of the department said.
"The number of imported cars with expired service life in Azerbaijan has grown by 2.5-3 times over the past few years," Sattarzade added.
“Due to the inconsistency of these cars with environmental requirements, their use was prohibited in the countries in which they were produced,” Sattarzade added. “Today, 75 percent of the poisonous gases that enter the atmosphere account for cars in Azerbaijan.”
“In general, the tendency of aging of the car fleet is growing in the country,” head of the department said. “The dynamics of import of the used cars recently shows that it will continue if the necessary measures are not taken. The country can adopt the experience of foreign countries to solve this problem.”
"It is necessary to solve the problems associated with the production of cars, including the disposal of obsolete cars by offering car owners the purchase of new cars on preferential terms and thus motivate them to sell their cars with the expired service life," Sattarzade said.
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