The Land Transport Bill that was passed yesterday by Parliament stated that vehicles can now only be driven up to 20 years from its manufactured date, with current vehicles that exceed that date being given a three-year deadline.
The bill was submitted on behalf of the government by Kurendhoo Constituency MP Mohamed Shamin Habeeb and passed yesterday with an additional article regarding the age of the vehicle by the Committee on National Development and Heritage.
The bill reads if a registered vehicle reaches 20 years post its manufactured date, its registry will be voided. Procedural steps within that stage will be defined under a set of guidelines once the bill is ratified.
The article that was added into the bill by the committee states that the registration of said vehicle will be voided after the owner has been notified. According to the regulation included in the article, the registry will include the manufactured date of the vehicle when it is being registered, in order to enforce the regulation.
Three-year deadline for old vehicles, historical vehicles exempt
As per the article that was included by the committee to the bill and when it does become an act, registered vehicles aged between 18 to 20 years can only see use for three years.
After that, the owner will be given a notice and the registry will be voided.
The vehicles exempt from this rule are vehicles given special permission after looking at the car brand, logo and special features. The requirements for being given special permission will be included as a set of rules after the bill becomes an act.
The special permission will be granted after the vehicles that meet the requirements under the guideline conduct a road worthiness test.
The Land Transport Act was passed at Parliament with 47 members voting in favor out of the 59 members who participated in the vote. Twelve members from the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) voted against passing the bill.
