The Ministry of Transport has initiated the executive procedures for the Cabinet’s decision to allow the import and entry of locomotive heads within the age of less than 8 years instead of 5 years as was the case previously.

The Director General of the Land Transport Regulatory Authority, Abdul Rahim Al-Wreikat, said that the Council of Ministers approved the recommendation of the Economic Development Committee based on the recommendations of the Board of Directors of the Land Transport Regulatory Authority, and in response to the demands of individual operators and companies.

Wreikat added that the decision included allowing the entry of locomotive heads that were manufactured less than 8 years prior to the year of clearance instead of 5 years as was the case previously.

The decision stipulated that the head of a registered, working and licensed locomotive be removed from service through deletion or re-export, provided that the acquisition license is valid and that the renewal of its license has not been interrupted for more than 6 months during the last two years of the replacement request.

And he indicated that the authority formed an executive committee to start implementing the decision, and the committee includes, in addition to the authority, according to Al-Wreikat, each of: the Customs, Income and Sales Tax Department, and the Drivers Licensing Department, and it is expected that the work of the committee will be completed before the end of this month.

He pointed out that about 40% of the operators of tractor heads (out of about 21 thousand vehicles registered with the authority) and those operating in the transportation sector by transit and to neighboring countries are threatened with leaving work due to the high costs of purchasing newly manufactured tractor heads (with an age of less than 5 years). ).

Al-Wreikat indicated that the new decision granted a large number of operators (about 14,000 freight vehicles) opportunities to renew their vehicles, noting that the operational life of some locally operating locomotive heads exceeded 40 years.

He explained that a number of neighboring countries require that locomotives be allowed to enter their lands to have an operating age of less than 20 years only, and therefore the decision will reflect positively on operators and give them opportunities to modernize their vehicles so that they can continue their movement by transferring transit and entering neighboring countries.

Al-Wreikat stressed that the Council of Ministers also allowed the import of locomotive heads that operate on electricity and in accordance with the system for collecting the special tax rate on vehicles No. 80 of 2000, indicating that the Council of Ministers assigned both the Land Transport Regulatory Authority and Customs, Income and Sales Tax to complete the necessary procedures in this regard. According to the legislation in force.

Minister of Public Works and Minister of Transport / Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Authority, Maher Abu Al-Samen, said that the decision comes in response to the demands of the land transport sector and operators in general, and in appreciation of the economic conditions of companies and individual operators while maintaining traffic safety.