Govt gives in to transport associations’ clout

Amid pressure from transport associations, the government has put on hold an order that set a limit to the economic life of buses and trucks.

The original order issued on May 17 was aimed at reducing crashes and pollution through setting the economic life of buses at 20 years and trucks and lorries at 25.

The Road Transport and Highways Division on Thursday issued a circular staying the order. The fresh order was put in effect immediately, officials said.

After first order, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority asked all of its offices to dump the outdated vehicles until a guideline on scrapping was not in place.

But, following the latest order, BRTA asked its offices to ignore the previous one, sources said.

The decisions are made at a time when thousands of people get killed and suffer life-changing injuries in crashes every year.

Many road safety experts have pointed out that old and unfit vehicles are a major reason behind the crashes.

As of April this year, over 74,000 registered buses, trucks and other commercial vehicles are past their economic lifespan set by the government in May. At least 576 people were killed in 505 road accidents in July, Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity said yesterday.

Transport expert Prof Hadiuzzaman termed the latest decision "very unfortunate", saying it would further reduce road safety.

Asked if the government backtracked from the original decision because of lobbying and pressure by transport associations, RTHD Secretary ABM Amin Ullah Nuri said that that was not the case.

The original decision came more than four years after a special committee formed by the National Road Safety Council recommended setting an usable life of commercial vehicles to reduce crashes.

On May 17, the RTHD published on its website a draft guideline for scrapping old vehicles. The draft mentioned that no vehicle owner would be able to register a new vehicle if they owned a vehicle that had exceeded the "service life" set by the government.

The draft Motor Vehicle Scrapping Guideline-2023 also said the government would outsource the vehicle scrapping job to private firms enlisted with the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) which would supervise the job.

The draft guideline was never finalised.

In the months following May, different transport associations expressed discontent over the decision. The Greater Chattogram Public and Goods Transport Owners' Federation last month demanded that the authority set the economic life of commercial vehicles at 30 years.

The economic life of a vehicle should begin from the day it is registered, not from the day it leaves the assembly line, the federation added.

A top BRTA official requesting anonymity, said, "Different quarters were opposing the decision, saying that if it was implemented, there would be a scarcity of vehicles.

"They [transport associations] have contacted higher authorities. The authorities accepted their demand."

Prof Hadiuzzman, former director of the Accident Research Institute at the Buet, said setting a limit to the economic life of commercial vehicles was key to reducing crashes, bringing discipline on roads and curbing pollution.

"Changing the decision will raise indiscipline on the roads… Crashes will not reduce as long as the old and unfit vehicles are on the road," he told this newspaper yesterday.

Contacted, RTHD Secretary Nuri said the order was put on hold because the "goods-laden vehicles" were not clearly defined in the previous order. "We might not have checked it properly at the time."

A committee led by the BRTA chairman was formed to review the previous order and set economic life for different vehicles soon.

Asked about the transport associations' pressure, he said, "Can't we make mistakes and fix it? It has nothing to do with pressure here."

This is not the first time the government changed its decision regarding the road transport sector. The authorities suspended implementation of several sections of the Road Transport Act-2018 for months following a strike by transport associations in late 2019.

Following the transport associations' demand, the RTHD prepared a draft to amend the Road Transport Act, reducing fines mentioned in 11 sections and punishment under four sections.

The authorities on multiple occasions waived the fines for vehicle owners who failed to update documents of vehicles on time.