Egypt’s Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait has revealed that the state has spent, since April, about EGP 56.5m in the obsolete vehicle replacement initiative.
The finance acts as a green incentive for the replaced cars owners.
Maait said that coordination is underway with the Ministries of Trade and Industry, and Petroleum and Mineral Resources to conduct the necessary technical examination for new cars.
This aims to ensure that they conform to the technical specifications in terms of manufacturing and quality standards applicable in the Egyptian car industry, and their compatibility with the dual-fuel system.
The minister added that there has been an increasing public turnout to join this initiative since its launch in January, with a total of 44,094 cars signed up for replacement.
He said that, as of next Sunday, requests to replace aging microbus with new ones powered by natural gas will be received in the governorates covered by the first phase.
These governorates are Cairo, Giza, Qaliubiya, Alexandria, Suez, Port Said, and the Red Sea. This is taking place through the website dedicated to the presidential initiative www.gogreenmasr.com.
Maait noted that two new companies have signed up to start locally producing microbuses, with an additional discount in the price of the car over the market price. This is in addition to the value of the green incentive, at 25% of the price of the new car, with a maximum of EGP 65,000.
Amgad Mounir, Chairperson of the Vehicle Replacement Fund at the Ministry of Finance and Executive Director of the initiative to replace aging cars with new ones powered by natural gas, confirmed that so far, 3,017 old cars have been scrapped.
These include 2,950 passenger cars and 64 taxis. A total of 2,635 new cars have been received since April.
He said that there is a noticeable increase in the rate of car delivery. Last April, 400 citizens received their cars, whilst 600 received their vehicles in May. A total of 1,340 people received their cars in June, and 295 people received their cars during the last few days of July.
Maait said that, since the opening of the registration for Port Said free zone cars on 4 July, the number of requests to replace these cars has reached 134 requests in just three days. These include 12 requests for cash payment, and 122 in instalments. The opening of registration for these cars also comes as part of the framework of the initiative.
The minister added that it was decided to approve the inclusion of the 2022 Chery Tiggo 3 model in this initiative. This comes as part of the Ministry of Finance’s keenness to provide a large and diverse number of cars.
The ministry aims to allow citizens to have multiple alternatives to replace their aging vehicles in order to meet their various needs and requirements.
He explained that the manufacturer offers a warranty for the car available in one category for a period of five years or 100,000 km, whichever comes first.
