AG working on carbon dioxide regulations
Chakalisa Dube | Wednesday April 8, 2015 09:56
After officiating at the commissioning of the construction of the spaghetti road in Francistown, Mabeo told Mmegi that currently there is no law regulating emission rates from vehicle imports.
The lack of regulations has raised fears that some vehicles with high carbon emission rates might be entering the country undetected. Earlier, Mabeo told the gathering that there has been a notable increase of cars in the country. “The Attorney General (AG) is currently working on correcting the draft of the regulations that governs emission rates from cars that would be allowed in the country. We (ministry) gave them the draft sometime ago,” Mabeo said. He added that such regulations “will make sure that all cars coming into the country meet safety and environmental standards. Although I cannot commit to a date as to when the AG will finish its job on the regulations, I am hopeful that it will be soon”.
He said after the AG has completed the regulations, which are part of the amendment of the roads traffic act, the process will go before the National Assembly.
The minister also told Mmegi that the government would not place tollgates on any roads around the country in the near future.
“It is not sustainable to have toll gates around the country. We did a survey as the ministry and its outcomes suggested that the cost of running tollgates is greater than earnings we will get,” Mabeo said.
“You have to hire staff and maintain the tollgates all these is expensive when compared to earnings we will get,” he said. He added that if the government was to mount tollgates it will have to charge drivers high fees to recover costs and mantain roads. “Again if we are to charge high costs they will be unaffordable to drivers”. Mabeo stated that the petrol levy is one way of making sure that the government secures funds to maintain and constructs roads. The minister’s comment arose out of a plea from Francistown East Member of Parliament (MP) Buti Billy who during the launch requested the ministry to consider building tollgates. He explained that the money sourced from tollgates would be used to construct and maintain roads.