Govt plans phased removal of vehicles older than 20 years

LAHORE, July 23: The Punjab government has proposed phasing out vehicles older than 20 years under its first New Energy Vehicle (NEV) Policy, aimed at reducing emissions and promoting cleaner transport, ARY News reported.

According to the draft policy, older vehicles will not face an immediate ban. Instead, the plan will be implemented in phases after approval from the provincial cabinet.

The policy proposes introducing a digital vehicle verification system to determine the age of vehicles based on their registration date. The system will initially be rolled out in selected cities, including Lahore and Faisalabad, before expanding across the province.

The government aims to complete the province-wide implementation of the digital verification system by 2027.

Under the proposed timeline, vehicles older than 20 years will face restrictions on entering designated low-emission zones between 2028 and 2030.

From 2031 to 2035, commercial vehicles over 20 years old will be removed from roads in phases. The policy also proposes extending the plan to private vehicles from 2033.

To encourage the transition to cleaner transport, the Punjab government plans to offer incentives to owners scrapping old vehicles. These include financial assistance and discounts for purchasing environmentally friendly vehicles.

The draft policy also proposes a 95 percent reduction in registration fees, token tax and route permit fees for new energy vehicles during the first three years of the policy’s implementation.

In addition, the government plans to establish more than 3,000 charging stations across Punjab and aims to convert all newly purchased government vehicles to electric or other low-emission technologies by 2030.