President of the T&T Automotive Dealers Association Visham Babwah says increased number in vehicle sales was not an indication of a robust economy but instead highlights the failures of public transportation system.
He was responding to statements from Minister of Finance Colm Imbert who said vehicle sales were averaging over 25,000 per year and the total number of vehicles registered in T&T was well over the one million mark.
“The Minister says that new vehicle purchases is a sign of economic activity but we don’t have records of cars which were stolen or written off. It may appear to be correct but you don’t know how many of these million cars are over 20 years old and are off the road,” he added.
Babwah also said other vehicles may be owned by rental companies.
“We need to find out how many vehicles are written off and how many of those are owned by rental companies. When he speaks like that it gives the impression that there are one million vehicles on the road at any one time and this is clearly not the case,” Babwah said.
He noted that the high number of vehicle sales was an indication of the failures of the public transportation system.
Babwah also expressed disappointment that the Government was not embracing new vehicle technology. Rather than pump millions of dollars into installing CNG infrastructure, Babwah said more subsidies should have gone into accommodating hybrid vehicles.
“Many citizens have accepted hybrid and electronic vehicles. This is a transformation that I lobbied for since 2010. The green technology will save the Government money and I was hoping to hear more about this in the Mid-year Budget Review but I didn’t,” Babwah said. He noted that it was not feasible to spend millions to put down the infrastructure for CNG.
“The manufacturers have not gone that way for CNG vehicles. We have only a few models of vehicles that are CNG. The majority of cars being outfitted for CNG are between seven to ten years old. When people no longer want to go CNG, the infrastructure will be useless so what is the point of putting down CNG stations all over?” he asked.
“CNG has been around for more than 40 years and they never made any profit. Last year they gave away 3,000 CNG kits at cost of $12,000 per kit. That is $36 million. Isn’t that a burden to the citizens? Why not spend that money into encouraging more citizens to buy electronic or hybrid vehicles,” Babwah suggested.
He also said the installation of CCTV cameras throughout the country will do nothing to curb crime.
“The amount of killing is at an alarming rate. Citizens have no comfort in cameras,” he added. During his Mid-year Budget Review, Imbert said increased vehicle sales and profits in the banking sector are indicators of how well the economy is doing. He explained that local banks were enjoying unprecedented growth in income and profits. He also noted that annuities, deposits and mutual funds, all show significant growth over the last three years.”
