Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait announced that the government will continue to expand the base of beneficiaries of the presidential initiative to replace obsolete vehicles that are 20 or more years old with new cars powered by natural gas. This is in implementation of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s mandates to maximize efforts to transition to a green economy in conjunction with hosting the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh this month, reported Daily News Egypt.
According to Maait, five new governorates -Ismailia, Sharqeya, Beheira, Beni Suef and Sohag- have been included in the initiative, allowing them to receive financing to own new economically and environmentally friendly cars through large credit facilities in line with the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) and Egypt’s 2030 Vision. The scheme will be launched in the new governorates with the same quality and conditions as in Cairo, Giza, Qalyubiya, Alexandria, Port Said, Suez, the Red Sea, Luxor, Aswan, and Sharm El-Sheikh.
The minister also said that the state’s public treasury bore more than EGP 590 million to fund the green incentive, which has benefitted more than 24,000 citizens so far, adding that these new CNG vehicles contribute to reducing air pollution, dropping harmful carbon emissions, and lowering traffic congestion as a result of the frequent breakdowns of old cars, as well as reducing pressure on fuel consumption by replacing it with natural gas.
He added that the private sector is an authentic partner in the success of the presidential initiative to replace vehicles and achieve its objectives in a way that helps move the wheel of the economy and create more job opportunities.
For his part, Amgad Mounir, First Assistant Minister of Finance and Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Vehicle Replacement Fund, said that coordination is underway with the new governorates, as the initiative’s management team was assigned to cooperate with specialists in these governorates to inspect the proposed old car collection yards to ensure that they meet the technical and environmental conditions that must be met and that preparations for training workers in the governorates, car collection yards, traffic and bank branches are underway, noting that 31 banks and about 500 of their branches are participating in the initiative.
