The government will maintain its ban on the commercial importation of three-wheel vehicles, tuk-tuks and motorcycles, with the exception of tricycles and their chassis, the cabinet announced last week. Meanwhile, the three-month ban on importing production components had not been renewed, reports Noha Moustafa. The decision was approved by a committee from the Ministries of the Interior, Finance, Industry, and Foreign Trade and Investment. The decision aims to reduce the number of the vehicles, which are allegedly dangerous, unsafe and unlicensed. The committee also included representatives from the Egyptian Organisation for Standardisation and Quality (EOS), the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI), the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) and the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI). In February, the cabinet announced decision number 105/2014 imposing a one-year ban on imports of fully manufactured motorcycles of all kinds and on three-wheel tuk-tuks in particular, both for commercial purposes or for private use, while the ban on importing production components was set for three months. Minister of Trade and Industry Mounir Fakhri Abdel-Nour said the committee would set up an electronic system enabling the customs authorities to inform the traffic department of any imported vehicles. This, he added, would be done in cooperation with the Ministry of Local Development. However, Bajaj Auto, the biggest exporter of three-wheelers worldwide, said last week that it expected to boost exports to Egypt after the country had lifted a three-month ban on imports of two-wheelers and three-wheelers. “We found out from our distributor that the ban on imports of two-wheelers and three-wheelers was to be lifted,” S. Ravikumar, president of Bajaj Auto, told the press. No one from the Indian company responded to Al-Ahram Weekly's inquiries for a statement. Egypt is the second-biggest export market for Bajaj Auto, which said it had received an order for almost 5,500 three-wheelers and 3,500 two-wheelers in June. It said it expected to export 25,000 three-wheelers and 20,000 motorcycles during the current fiscal year to the Egyptian market. Bajaj Auto shares jumped over three per cent late last week upon news that the Egyptian government was to lift its import ban on two- and three-wheelers. GB Auto, the Egyptian distributor of three-wheeler tuk-tuks and motorbikes, had seen its motorcycle and three-wheeler revenues drop by 20.4 per cent on reduced sales due to the import ban during the first quarter of 2014. As for the ban's effect on small traders, Habib Naasana, importer and assembler of Chinese Hanco motorbikes and three-wheelers, said that the decision had been “hurried and obviously wrong,” but he would not have objected to the ban on components continuing for another three months. “It wasn't a big deal as many local manufacturers that assemble motorbikes and tuk-tuks had sufficient stocks of parts and components,” he said. Prices were not affected, and they had not seen any increases since the ban was imposed, indicating that supply was greater than demand, he explained. The decision to exclude tricycles from the ban was because they are mainly used in transporting goods in rural areas. Allowing the import of production components was clearly for practical reasons, said Mohamed Mustafa Al-Sakka, secretary of the division of importers of motorbikes at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, and had come in response to demands from the industry. Al-Sakka added that Egypt had 12 motorcycle factories employing 200,000 people directly and indirectly, in which investments were estimated at LE1 billion.
