The state’s public treasury has borne more than EGP 590m to fund the green incentive, which has benefitted more than 24,000 citizens so far
Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait affirmed in a statement on Saturday that the government will continue to expand the base of beneficiaries of the presidential initiative to replace obsolete vehicles that are 20 or more years old with new cars powered by natural gas.
This is in implementation of presidential mandates to maximise efforts to transition to a green economy in conjunction with hosting the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh this month.
Maait explained that the governorates of Ismailia, Sharqeya, Beheira, Beni Suef, and Sohag have been included in the initiative, allowing them to receive financing to own new cars that are economically and environmentally friendly and sustainable through large credit facilities in line with the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) and Egypt’s 2030 Vision.
The minister also said that the state’s public treasury bore more than EGP 590m to fund the green incentive, which has benefitted more than 24,000 citizens so far, adding that these new cars contribute to reducing air pollution, reducing harmful carbon emissions, and reducing traffic congestion as a result of the frequent breakdowns of old cars, as well as reducing pressure on fuel consumption by replacing it with natural gas.
He added that the private sector is an authentic partner in the success of the presidential initiative to replace vehicles and achieve its objectives in a way that helps move the wheel of the economy and create more job opportunities.
For his part, Amgad Mounir — First Assistant Minister of Finance and Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Vehicle Replacement Fund — said that coordination is underway with the new governorates, as the initiative’s management team was assigned to cooperate with specialists in these governorates to inspect the proposed old car collection yards to ensure that they meet the technical and environmental conditions that must be met and that preparations for training workers in the governorates, car collection yards, traffic and bank branches are underway, noting that 31 banks and about 500 of their branches are participating in the initiative.
He added that 24,000 old cars — including passenger cars, taxis, and microbuses — were scrapped, and the number of requests that fulfilled the conditions reached more than 42,000 requests on the initiative’s website, explaining that there is continuous coordination with representatives of car companies to work on facilitating the procedures for delivering new cars to beneficiaries of the initiative.
Ahmed Hussein — Official Spokesperson for the Vehicle Replacement Initiative at the Ministry of Finance — explained that the initiative’s administration is constantly working on following up the application procedures, pointing out that that the software update of the initiative’s electronic platform has been completed, enabling the citizens of the five new governorates to participate in the initiative in coordination with the various concerned authorities.
He added that it will be made available to citizens to participate as soon as the five new governorates finish equipping the old car collection yards, stressing that it will be launched in the five governorates with the same quality and conditions as in Cairo, Giza, Qalyubiya, Alexandria, Port Said, Suez, the Red Sea, Luxor, Aswan, and Sharm El-Sheikh.
