TEHRAN— Some 90,000 clunker taxis are plying the roads in Iran, an official with traffic police has said.

The old taxis are being used 8 times more than private cars, YJC quoted Mohammad Tarahhomi as saying on Monday. 

There are 1.5 million clunker vehicles and 9 million clunker motorcycles in Iran, he regretted, adding that unfortunately scrappage of old, high-emission vehicles is loosely linked with importation of vehicles which is now banned. 

When vehicles are being manufactured in a country there should exist a scrappage scheme as well, he highlighted. 

Referring to the clean air law Tarahhomi noted that the law mandates scrappage of old and polluting vehicles. 

Comprising 34 articles, the law on clean air was adopted by Majlis [the Iranian parliament] in July 2017 after 6 years of continuous revisions.

Iran’s automobile industry is failing to live up to international standards in manufacturing low-emission vehicles. Although the industry ministry and car manufacturers are legally bound to observe the law in producing clean and eco-friendly vehicles in practice they ignore or fail to meet the standards.

According to a bill passed by the cabinet all car manufacturers were obligated to scrap a car in exchange for each car they produce, however the law was overturned and now regarding the halt on importation of cars much less clunkers are being scrapped annually. 

Ali Mohammadi, an official with traffic police, said in early January that the scrappage of clunker vehicles has decreased by 65 percent in the current Iranian calendar year (starting on March 21, 2018) compared to a year earlier. 

While last year some 140,000 vehicles were scrapped this year only 50,000 old vehicles were discarded, he added. 

Clunker cars, produce great deal of emission and cause air pollution especially in metropolises like Tehran. Tehraners have experienced a 17 days of excellent air quality since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2018).

MQ/MG