Former President Bharrat Jagdeo on Tuesday urged the government to scale back its proposed plan to ban imports of used tyres and restrict the imports of used and re-conditioned vehicles.
During his presentation on the government’s proposed $230 billion budget for this year, Finance Minister Winston Jordan announced last Friday that government intends to ban the importation of used tyres, which he said will be put into effect as soon as some procedural hurdles are cleared.
He also said that from May 1, the government will restrict importation of used and/or re-conditioned vehicles over 8 years old from the date of manufacture to the date of importation, as part of measures to ‘green’ the economy and protect the environment.
However, Jagdeo on Tuesday called for government to completely withdraw its proposed ban on used tyres and ease the proposed restriction on used/reconditioned cars and heavy-duty vehicles.
“I am asking the Minister of Finance, I am asking President David Granger, to extend this 8 years restriction to 12 years so that groups of people can continue to drive a vehicle and not have the additional burden of finding $1M more for that same vehicle,” Jagdeo said.
“It was explained that a Toyota Premio costs $2.5M on the local market and if the new model is to be imported it will cost buyers $3.6M, which is over $1M more than the cost currently… even with the new system,” he noted.
Directly after Jordan’s budget presentation last Friday, Jagdeo said that from a quick analysis the new car import policy would see a decline in auto ownership. Pointing to the ban of used tyres here, he had said that it will ultimately force an increase in the cost of public transport. “How many persons can afford new tyres? Most of the tyres that are used in our system are used tyres. Now, from a safety perspective you need to look at quality regulations of them but when you ban them completely you are transferring money from the people who are importing used tyres and also taking money out of the pocket of those ordinary people who could only afford used tyres for their vehicle… If you have to buy new tyres what do you expect? The cost of transportation will go up,” he then reasoned.
On Tuesday, he went further, pointing out that his party had done a survey of local auto dealers and from that report most feel the ban would see a drastic decline in vehicle purchases.
In terms of heavy vehicles, such as trucks used in Guyana’s interiors and for construction, Jagdeo said that the cost would more than triple from $5M to $18M under the new system for a single-axel type vehicle, while the cost for a double-axel vehicle will similarly skyrocket from $9M to $27M.
He said that from an environmental perspective, Guyana could relax as it does not have a large amounts of carbon emissions. “There is no need for us as an environmental obligation to do this. In fact, with our forests we take out more carbon than we put into it (the atmosphere),” he said.
Jagdeo believes that from a safety standpoint, used tyres are not the reason for most accidents as records show it is drunk driving and speeding.
He also asked government to withdraw the proposed licence fees increase on shotguns as he believes the new $5,000 cost would be too taxing on farmers and Amerindians. “Farmers and Amerindians should be exempted from the proposed increase in gun licence fees, since their livelihoods depend on their possession of firearms,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Jagdeo also took the government to task for their revealing that over 15,000 ounces of gold is being smuggled out of the country weekly. He said it should tighten measures to ensure this does not happen and can save over $8B in royalties annually. “Now you are there, stop it, block it you will get $8B in royalties… do it, you can increase public servants wages significantly,” he said.
