Gov’t to commence re-registration of all vehicles in Ghana

The Government will soon commence the re-registration of all vehicles plying in the country in line with the provisions of the Road Traffic Regulations 2012, and for proper inventory.

The move, which will be done by the Ministry of Transport in collaboration with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), will enable Ghana to obtain a comprehensive inventory of vehicles and to ensure that the right fuels were sourced to fuel them and to save the environment from being polluted by vehicular emissions.

The re-registration has become necessary because, currently in the country, there is no accurate inventory on the kind of vehicles plying our roads in spite of the fact that road transport continued to be the dominant mode of transportation, accounting for over 95 per cent of all domestic transport mode.

The Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, who announced this in Accra in a speech read on his behalf, said the Ministry was collaborating with other sector Ministries including; the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, as well as the Ministry of Energy and other agencies.

It will ensure that the transport sector becomes efficient, sustainable, and environmentally friendly.

This was disclosed at a day’s workshop on Vehicle Inventory and Policy Options for Fuel Economy Standards in Ghana.

The Workshop organised by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in collaboration with the UN Environment, and other local partners at Amasaman, near Accra, was meant to disseminate the Vehicle Inventory report and to share Results of Policy Strategies for implementing Fuel Economy Standards in Ghana.

Fuel Economy is the relationship between the distance traveled and the amount of fuel consumed and that was dependent on a number of factors including; the engine size, traffic conditions and the nature of the fuel, the Mminister explained.

He said currently, Ghana has no specific fuel economy policy or regulations, but there are few policies that are related to fuel economy which included; import taxation, vehicle valuation, fuel quality, and over-aged penalty among others.

He said it is worrying that current fiscal regime and customs directive made it cheaper to import used vehicles than new and efficient ones, while the less quality of fuels in the country do not also support the introduction of a more efficient vehicles into the Ghanaian market.

Source: daily Graphic