3,000 old cars consume 90 billion liras of fuel per week

Series of steps

Mays Barakat:

While studies, suggestions and amendments on the localization of the electric vehicle industry and green transportation are still being discussed on the desks of relevant departments, we find that electric vehicles have become “old fashion” for some people. “People” have mastered the technology of “pumping” on the highway at night away from the daytime, thus discovering second-hand cars that have been used for many years.

Although the “electric” car project has not received more than 2% of the public’s acceptance and interest, economists are pinning their hopes on the project to achieve economic development, industrial progress, savings to the treasury, and other benefits that come with policies. About renewable energy.

Amer Deeb, an expert in the field of green mobility, expects that early next year we will see advanced electric vehicles on our streets, especially if a private company receives an initial license to set up a charging station, which shows its economic importance. If old cars are discarded, at least 15 liters of gasoline are consumed every day, which means that 3,000 cars consume fuel worth 90 billion liras, which is paid once a week.

Dib pointed out that there are many obstacles in some government institutions, especially the decision of the Central Bank of Syria on the status of car sales, and he wondered: How can businessmen refinance by returning cash blocks and supplying parts for assembly? The platform pointed out that Law No. 18 emphasizes that the necessary supply of the project can be exempted in any case? Therefore, what the government requires is to liberate the electric vehicle manufacturing industry from any restrictions or conditions? Faced with the problem of tariffs on complete vehicles, not just on imported parts, it is necessary to do a good job in localization in this area and work hard to implement and launch it.

Dib noted that all that is needed for the next government is to issue licenses to the factories that get the licenses to import cars, buses or freight, not to mention the importance of banking intervention and opening up imports, while manufacturing and providing facilities to industrialists while the banking sector intervenes to make its transformation to green transportation effective, whether it is infrastructure projects and stations, or factories with the lowest interest are “subsidized”, and such exports will bring foreign exchange to the national coffers.

Regarding the savings achieved by the transition to green transport, Dib stressed that the project will work to control the second-hand car market, which consumes a lot of cash, especially since recent data confirm that the value of the large amount of cash circulating in the second-hand car market is 16 trillion liras by 2022, with the Syrian Transport Administration accounting for 1.5 billion liras and projecting 2.416 million vehicles.

He pointed out that re-maintaining the transport sector is very expensive for the country, which means that the cost of switching to green transport is 70% lower than reverting to a fuel-based transport sector, and that a large workforce is required to start the project, so it will reduce the unemployment problem that currently exists.

Deeb described our capital as lazy because it invests in rent-seeking projects that consume cash, so there is a need to find strategic work, rotate and direct capital so that everyone can benefit. If we achieve a breakthrough, we will wait for the Syrian market to attract more than $400 million in foreign investment in this field.