The government has decided to launch a vehicle buyback program as part of solutions proposed for congestion in Male’, Transport Minister Mohamed Ameen said yesterday.
The vehicle buyback program would be an important step towards solving the problem, Minister Ameen said when he was summoned to Parliament’s Committee on Secondary Legislation.
“18 percent to 25 percent of people would give if payment is made on the spot after evaluation. Now when we carry out [this program], the situation can be kept from getting worse,” Ameen said.
While it was important to start the program soon, Minister Ameen said a budget would be needed. He said that MVR 500 million would be proposed in next year’s budget for the vehicle buyback program.
Old or disused vehicles are usually purchased under vehicle buyback programs. But new vehicles could also be bought.
Ameen said the vehicles bought under the program could be re-exported or used as scrap metal. Such programs have been carried out successfully in Singapore and Australia, he said.
“This is a program that they carried out in Singapore and Australia 10 or 12 years ago. It can be done after declaring the carrying capacity,” the minister said.
The second most important policy for solving vehicle congestion in Male’ city was developing multi-storey parking buildings, the minister said. This was a campaign pledge of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.
In addition, the minister said the government also has many other plans for the vehicle problem. The ministry has started seeing results after implementing some of the plans, he said.
For instance, the number of vehicles registered daily has been drastically reduced, he noted. A limit was imposed because the ministry has been verifying garage permits as mandated by the law, he added.
Ameen assured the committee that the government has been carrying out the verification process despite previous governments neglecting to do so.
Ahead of the planned vehicle buyback program, the government has started a voluntary program to demolish obsolete vehicles upon request by owners.
