Kathmandu, September 15:

The registration of vehicles at the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) is decreasing, according to official data. The vehicle registration rate had increased by 10.11 per cent in the fiscal year 2003/04 whereas the rate stood at 9.38 per cent in the last fiscal year. The rate was even higher in 2002/2003, while the increase rate was at its peak in 2001/02 at 16.22 per cent with the registration of 49,560. The rate of vehicle registration began to increase more than the average (12 per cent) from the fiscal year 2000/01 when the rate went up to 15.5 per cent from 11.98 per cent in the previous year. Like in the previous years motorbikes topped the registration list with some 23,579 registered out of a total of 40,531 vehicles registered during the fiscal year 2004/05. Some 18,438 vehicles were registered at the Bagmati zonal office in the last fiscal year. While a van belonging to a corporation was registered at the Rapti zonal office, 62 vehicles were registered in the Sagarmatha zonal office during the last fiscal year. Now the total number of vehicles registered at the DoTM has reached 472,795.

Director at the DoTM, Sharad Adhikary, said registration of vehicles is decreasing due to poor condition of roads and frequent traffic jams. “We have restricted the registration of vehicles because of traffic jams and deteriorating condition of ro ads,” he said. “There is a need to increase the number of vehicles in remote areas, where the government is constructing additional blacktopped roads.