China has decided that Petrol and Diesel cars should no longer be manufactured or sold in their country. A decision that has caused Global amazement as China is the largest automobile manufacturer in the world.
This ban is in favor of electric and hybrid cars.
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China is the second largest oil consumer after the United States. And China alone, as of last year catered for almost a third of the global total number of manufactured cars with a production number of over 28 million cars.
The move to ban petrol and diesel cars is slated to be effected by 2030 as the Chinese government is currently debating timelines and guidelines to phase out petrol and diesel. This is in a move to control pollution by reducing carbon emission to protect the environment.
China follows the United Kingdom and France which have already announced the ban of diesel and petrol by 2040.
What does this mean for Uganda?
Uganda as a country that does not have strong or any regulations on what car one can import and drive, we just hit a jackpot. But before we celebrate and head to Chinese car trade websites to order and ship cars, this inevitably means that our environment is in the most danger because of this.
The regulatory bodies in Uganda instead of restricting cars older than a certain model year, they levy higher taxes on them in the form of environmental tax. Therefore, someone will cheaply purchase an old V6 4.5 liter Diesel SUV from the internet, part with a slightly higher than average fee on taxes, and live out the rest of their lives polluting the environment without a peep from the government.
The Chinese banning diesel and petrol also means all their diesel and petrol cars will be practically sold for almost close to nothing as Chinese panic to offload their stock and meet the deadlines that are yet to be set.
3rd world countries like ours will then make a killing as we shall be able to afford all those cars we normally wouldn’t afford. As a result of the rush and excitement, most of the buyers will soon discover that they cannot maintain these petrol and diesel thirsty monster they acquired cheaply.
Our markets and roads will be flooded with all the rejects from China which is a win for our car buyers and sellers but a road to inconceivable disaster for our environment. We should expect more congestion on our bad and in some areas impassable roads, as everyone will soon be driving.
