EMA director of environment protection, Petronella Shoko, said plans to place officers at the countrys ports of entry for the purpose of ensuring that all vehicles do not exceed the carbon emissions threshold are at an advanced stage. The ban would target all vehicles over five years old.
We are aiming at monitoring and stopping second hand cars at all ports of entry. Every car that exceeds the permitted level of exhaust emissions will not enter our borders. We will warn drivers to repair their vehicles, and if they fail to comply we have powers to confiscate the vehicles, she said.
Shoko said EMA had acquired state-of-the-art vehicle smoke testers that would be used at all Zimbabwe Republic Police roadblocks.
We have set road blocks and we are working hand in hand with the police and the Vehicle Inspection Department in monitoring vehicles, she said.
The ban will hit the motor industry hard, consisting as it does of mainly second hand car dealerships, while denying the country millions of dollars in lost taxes.
Most second-hand vehicle imports into Zimbabwe are of Japanese origin.
Japan imposes an emissions standard forcing vehicle owners to replace old vehicles with newer, cleaner models or retrofit old vehicles with approved nitrogen oxide control devices.
Post published in: News