Department of Transport Management (DoTM) forwarded the company´s application to the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management (MoLTM) last week for a policy-level decision. [break]
"MoLTM sent a proposal to this effect to the cabinet for approval on Sunday as using these three-wheelers as taxis would be a first in Nepal," said a source at MoLTM.
The proposed three-wheeler has three seats including the driver´s, and narrow wheels.
"It is not safe compared to four-wheeler taxis due to its narrow wheel structure. Import of such three-wheelers can in no way be justified," the source added.
The company has sought permission to import the three-wheelers from China at a time when the government has suspended registering of new taxis in the capital. However, the company has not specified the number of such three-wheelers to be imported.
Since 2000 the government has stopped granting permission for new taxis without replacing older ones in view of the excess of taxis in the capital. "A group has been active replacing existing taxis with the three-wheelers", the source said.
Taxi entrepreneurs have objected to the government´s move to allow import of motorcycle taxis and warned of strong protests if the government does not backtrack.
Ram Bahadur Shrestha, president of Nepal Meter Taxi Entrepreneurs Association, said there would be traffic chaos in the capital if the government gives permission to import the three-wheeler taxis.
"It would destroy the whole structure of traffic in the capital which is already overcrowded with vehicles including meter taxis, and would cause unmanageable traffic jams," Shrestha told myrepublica.com on Monday.
He also warned that the government would face strong protests from taxi entrepreneurs if it allows in the three-wheelers, which are becoming obsolete in other countries due to insecure body structure and lower speed. Around 7,000 meter taxis are plying in the capital.
Citing more traffic problems, riskier travel and environmental harm, the government decided to completely ban meter tempos from the capital from 2003 when over 2,500 such tempos were scrapped.
"The government is pushing import of three-wheeler taxis ignoring the past when it took a decision in 2000 to dismantle the meter tempos. It is nothing but the personal interest of the transport minister," said Shrestha.
The government banned the import of three-wheeler meter tempos from November 1991.
Meanwhile, a delegation of transport entrepreneurs has already expressed its objection during a meeting with Transport Minister Mohammad Aftab Alam on Sunday.
prabhakar@myrepublica.com
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