Drop in new vehicle registations

Irangika Range

The percentage of new vehicle registrations has gone down by 25 percent during 2012 owing to the recently introduced tax revision on vehicle imports. Transport Deputy Minister Rohana Kumara Dissanayake said the government was compelled to increase taxes on imported vehicles as there was a rapid increase in the number of vehicles imported to the country, since the end of the war and it has resulted in increasing traffic congestion. He said fuel consumption is also high as a result of vehicles spending so much time on the roads. This has very badly affected the whole environmental system as well.

New vehicle registrations last year dropped to 397,295 from 525,421 new vehicles registered in 2011. The number of motor bike registrations has seen a sharp drop by 61,047, while three wheeler registrations decreased by 39,611. The decreasing trend in registrations was also visible with other categories of vehicles, including the motor cars, which recorded a decrease of 26,340 from 57,886 in 2011 to 31,546 in 2012. However, there is a increase in the registration of duel purpose vehicles in last year.