Since the seventh goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 2030 Vision) is sustaining affordable and clean energy, and after the launching of the Egyptian government's car replacement initiative in a Go Green exhibition in March, "Trendify" aimed to clarify details on why this initiative was made.
The Egyptian government’s car replacement initiative aims to replace vehicles to run on clean energy and natural gas, after opening the registration in January.
According to the initiative’s official spokesman Ahmed Abd Al-Raziq, the number of registration has reached 80.000 request since the initiative's launching.
Why Natural gas?
Compared with petroleum-based fuels, compressed natural gas reduces nitrogen oxide emissions by 30-60% and carbon-monoxide emissions by up to 97%. It makes economic sense to convert public transportation vehicles to natural gas because the return on investment comes from the money you save running on natural gas.
“The Egyptian government needs to logistically support the idea of natural gas cars in general, not just for its environmental benefits but also economically, this is a great deal, if we used the natural gas that Egypt provides then we saved a lot of money from the petrol that we import. In order to improve internal business, that way we are also improving internal economy. Another way of supporting this program is by making more natural gas stations to make available for everyone," said professor of construction and transportation in Cairo university, Dr. Mazhar Saleh.
According to the car replacement initiative’s official spokesman, Ahmed Abd Al-raziq, applying to the initiative is optional, so no one is obligated to participate in it, the applicant has to be an Egyptian citizen and not be less than 21 years old or more than 65 years old in the case of an installment request only, the car license should also be valid and in the name of the applicant and belongs to one of the governorates of the first stage of the initiative which are Cairo, Giza, Qalyubia, Alexandria, Suez, Port Said and the Red Sea.
For private cars, the license must be in the name of the applicant in the last two years from the date of launching the initiative.
The initiative does not buy old cars, but rather provides a set of financial and non-financial incentives to help replace the other cars, incentive of 10% of the price of the new car, with a maximum of 22,000 pounds for the owner’s car, and 20% of a maximum of 45,000 pounds for the taxi, confirmed Abd Al-Raziq.
Egyptians could submit their applications through the initiative’s website and the required data should be fully registered. There is also a hotline with the number «15707» to answer all inquiries related to the initiative, pointing out that there are 7 brands of cars and 21 categories and models that can be chosen from, and the prices of each one of them are announced on the website for convenience.
Some applications were declined due to mistakes people make while applying in the website, the most prominent reason is the expiration date of the car or the fact that the applicant might have the car for less than two years “ even if the request got suspended or declined we still manage to contact the people who had this issue and tell them why this happened and how it could be fixed” Abd Al-Raziq added.
It is not yet confirmed that there will be any medical insurance on the cars for any damages but it is being discussed.
“Old cars are a huge problem, for us, people who are using them and for the government, it is a major reason for traffic, because it's either a car accident or an old car that died in the middle of the road. So the fact that we're getting rid of them and replacing those cars with new once is a great step” said Dr.Huzien Ahmed Huzien professor of highway engineering in Cairo University.
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