Conversion of 60,000 2-stroke rickshaws: Deadline may not be met

GHULAM ABBAS

KARACHI: Over 60,000 two-stroke rickshaws still plying on roads of Sindh are unlikely to be converted into four-stroke to make them environment-friendly by the end of this month, a deadline set by government.

As the four-stroke CNG powered rickshaws are not only costlier but also poor in quality, having less than 3 years' life span, the owners of old two-stroke rickshaws are not ready to change their vehicles. About 2.5 million people are still depended on the income generated through the smoke-emitting and noisy rickshaws.

Though the government has fixed June 30, 2012 as deadline for conversion of two-strokes into the environment friendly four-strokes, the owners of the old one still consider their rickshaws more durable and cheaper as compared to the China-made engines and parts of the motors.

"Despite the localized parts except engine which is imported from China, the new rickshaws are such poor in quality that these hardly remain workable for three years while the older one has no parallel in terms of quality as 1965's model of the vehicle are still plying in the city's road," Siaf-ur-Rehman, a rickshaw dealer told Business Recorder.

According to him, though a dozen of model of new rickshaws have been introduced by the local manufactures and assemblers, including Commando, Rozgar, Unique, Sazgar, Super Stars, Meezan etc. the quality/durability was the only issue with every model. An owner of the CNG powered rickshaw could hardly get back the price (current price Rs 180000/rickshwa) within its life span.

Since its introduction during Musharraf's era, the quality of the new rickshaws has not been considered by concerned authorities including Engineering Development Board (EDB), Fitness department of Traffic Police and Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority, and they only inspect noise, speed and outlook of the rickshaws.

He said the China-made engines have no warrantee but, interestingly, the SRO No. 556 issued by EDB did not permit any company or organization in the country to manufacture the engines of such rickshaws.

Talking to Business Recorder, Hafiz-ul-Haq Hassan Zai, President Karachi Taxi and Rickshaw, Yellow Cab Owners Association said that the conversion of old rickshaws into four-strokes were not possible under the present situation. The first phase of converting 500 such rickshaws has not been started so far despite tall claims of the government.

More than 60,000 two-stroke rickshaws are still plying in the province, out of which over 40,000 were in Karachi.

According to him, the concerned authorities are not considering the suggestions made by the association that the noise and Smoke/Carbon Monoxide issue was not purely related to the old rickshaws but the cheaper lubricant oil and parts available in the market also responsible for them. "Closure of 200 shops supplying the highly poor quality oil is easier than to impose a ban on thousands of rickshaws plying on the roads," he added.

Technology is available in the country through which the engines of two-stroke rickshaws could be modified in such a way that they become environment-friendly. But the unnecessary requirements made mandatory by the high ups of the government were hurting the rickshaw manufacturers/assemblers, he said.

According to sources, the smoke, Carbon Monoxide and Noise parameters were to be implemented in the country on all imported and new models of locally manufactured petrol vehicles w.e.f. 1st July 2009, while the existing models of petrol driven vehicles locally manufactured were directed to immediately switch over to Euro-II emission standards but not later than 30th June 2012. These standards were issued with immediate effect for In-use Petrol Vehicles like Passenger Cars, Light Commercial Vehicles, Motor Rickshaws and Motorcycles etc. including Heavy Duty Diesel Engines and Large Goods Vehicles.