NEPALI TRUCK
The condition of goods transportation in Nepal has been declining since March 2078. Till now, there is no improvement, the rate of diesel/petrol is higher than the neighboring country, the government is now in the election, the investment in vehicles worth billions is at risk, even though charitable organizations have done something for a few days, nothing has been done, the road is a problem.
It is becoming more complicated day by day, the relevant body, the road department, remains silent, the tax is increasing every year.
The police administration is also treating those who are engaged in this service without standards, everyone is under pressure, if there is no alternative to it in time, then after a few months, it is certain that those who are engaged in this service will not escape.
Everyone should be alert at times.
NOW Everyone should help save those associated with this service.
The Government of Nepal is the sole regulatory agency to guide the evolution of the trucking industry in Nepal. It builds highways, issues permits to operate trucks, and provides regulatory frameworks governing various issues such as access to credit, insurance premiums and route permits. Furthermore, as the petroleum products in Nepal are imported by the government only, government indirectly fixes the cost function of the truck operators. On top of that, the government also fixes minimum prices for the different truck routes. Truck Entrepreneur Associations (TEAs), as explained earlier, are quasi-regulatory agencies. They rely on their location and organizational power to enforce the supply restrictions and price fixing in the routes they represent. The list of current active TEAs is shown in the appendix 20. In appendix 20 are the services offered by TEAs including the membership charges presented. Through interviews with chairpersons of different truck associations, we calculated that a total of 18812 trucks are currently registered with different TEAs. The total trucks/ crane/ excavators/ dodgers registered in the last 23 years, according to the Transportation Management Bureau, is 49404 (appendix 22). Since the numbers of cranes/excavators/dodgers are a very small fraction (approx. 10%) of this total, the total number of trucks registered in the past 23 years is likely to be around 45000. According to a raw estimate provided to us by the experts of the field, each year 40-50 trucks are involved in accidents that lead to them being scrapped. This further reduces the total maximum number of trucks currently on the Nepalese roads to be around 44000. However, trucks older than 16 years are rare, and this further reduces the total number of trucks operating on Nepalese roads by about 30%. It is approximated that there are about 31000 trucks on the Nepalese roads right now. Although the number of trucks registered in the transportation office is rising each year, the number of trucks for 1990AD provided by the government was a cumulative number for the trucks before that year. Since trucks are required to pay a membership fee to be operating on the road, the total number of trucks affiliated with an organization represents the correct lower bound of the total number of trucks plying on the Nepalese roads right now. This leads to our estimation of trucks running in Nepal in between 19000-31000. During conversations with entrepreneurs it was revealed that except for the TEAs in Narayani, Gandaki, Banganga and Butawal, the other TEAs do not provide additional insurance services (appendix 20). This could lead to a lower affiliation rate of trucks in the TEAs regions where these organizations are active. Furthermore, some of the trucks are registered with private industries. Old trucks and locally operating trucks are also unlikely to be TEA members. Relatively poor truck owners may also choose to take risks rather than to pay a certain insurance premium. The last column of the table of TEAs also provides the current membership fees. The charges are not the same for all and perhaps due to the increasing competition among TEAs, some TEAs have introduced different categories of memberships (and attendant charges). Because of new regulations introduced by the insurance board Nepal (IBN) during the last three years, TEAs are now a lot weaker than they were in the past. In particular, each truck is now required to be insured for its passengers as well as for third party damages, with a recognized insurance company which has rendered risk pooling by TEAs redundant. Insurance boards claim that the TEAs are still trying to extract the concession to allow them to insure their members, but it is unlikely to happen anymore.
JAY HOS.
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