Investvine–30 Jan
Starting February 1: the Singapore government is prohibiting the sale of new cars and also of motorcycles as the small city state is coming to a limit of available road and parking space.
From February onwards, the annual growth of the number of new private cars and motorcycles in the country is being set to zero from the current rate of 0.25 per cent, which means that people of Singapore will not be able to buy or privately import them unless they are replacing and disposing of an old or wrecked one, obviously. The new regulation will be in force for at least the next two years after which it is about to be reviewed.
Roads account for twelve per cent of Singapore’s total land area, and the 720-square kilometer island is home to some 907,000 vehicles, including approximately 612,000 private and rental cars.
“In view of Singapore’s land constraints and our commitment to continually improve our public transport system, we will lower the vehicle growth rate from the current 0.25 per cent per annum to zero per cent with effect from February 2018 for COE Categories A (smaller cars), B (larger cars) and D (motorcycles),” Singapore’s Land Transport Authorities announced.
“The existing vehicle growth rate of 0.25 per cent per annum for Category C (goods vehicles and buses) will remain unchanged until the first quarter of 2021 to provide businesses more time to improve the efficiency of their logistics operations and reduce the number of commercial vehicles that they require.”
Private car ownership wasn’t that easy before in Singapore, though. Car buyers were required to buy special permits that go by the name Certificates of Entitlements (COE). These documents permitted the vehicle owners to possess the vehicle for ten more years and were renewable. However, the permits came in limited numbers and were auctioned by the government every month.
Foreign-registered cars are still allowed to cross into SIngapore, but this can be a costly endeavour as they have to pay a number of charges, namely vehicle entry permit fees, toll charges, reciprocal road charges, electronic road pricing fees on priced roads, as well as substantial car park fees. A foreign-registered vehicle is allowed to stay in Singapore for a grace period not exceeding 14 days and local insurance is compulsory. Apart from that, vehicles registered outside West Malaysia need a number of different permits and custom documents.
