Tbilisi mayor Kakha Kaladze argued on July 3 that Georgia should introduce a ban on used car imports, calling the situation in the capital “a complete disaster”.
Georgia and other countries from the Eastern Europe and Eurasia region are major importers of used cars, most of them from Western Europe. Relatively low incomes and the widespread availability of cheaper used cars means many countries in the region have only a small market for new cars — but the use of older vehicles has negative environmental consequences.
Speaking at a conference in the Georgian capital, Kaladze said that the number of imported vehicles is increasing by 7% a year, and that 98% of them are outdated, according to a city hall statement. Overall, 90% of private cars in the country are outdated.
“The first thing to be done alongside with technical inspection is to halt importing old cars … This might trigger some dissatisfaction, but this is the step that is to be taken. The matter concerns the health of our kids,” the mayor concluded.
He now plans to raise the issue of old car imports with Georgia’s central government.
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