According to experts, vehicle inspection can mitigate the problem of environmental pollution to some extent, but other measures must be taken as well to solve the issue in full.
Kyrgyzstan plans to bring vehicle inspection back for all vehicles. Such requirements were effective in the republic until 2012, and were cancelled afterwards. On August 1, 2024, the Ministry of Economy proposed the draft law on taking the measure to improve the ecological situation and control over vehicle condition for consideration.
According to the Ministry of Economy, currently only vehicles that are used to carry passengers and cargo, as well as purpose-built vehicles such as ambulances, fire trucks, crane trucks, farm tractors and so on, must be inspected. According to the state enterprise ‘Unaa’ of the Ministry of Interior Affairs, there were over 1.5 million vehicles registered in the republic as of February 1, 2024. Moreover, 86.6 per cent of them have been used for over 15 years.
Given this fact, the authors of the initiative believe that introduction of mandatory vehicle inspection for all vehicles would improve the ecological situation, and would promote road safety.
According to Bakytbek Shabdanov, chief of management, technical regulation and metrology of the Ministry of Economy, the discussion was over and the document was sent for approval to the ministries and agencies.
“Then, it would be sent for approval to the president’s administration. Then, a roadmap would be prepared, and the remaining procedures would be carried out,” the official said to CABAR.asia.
According to Shabdanov, if the document is passed, the idea would be implemented in full no sooner than 2027.
“In particular, it would be necessary to open new vehicle inspection stations as there are not enough of them in the country. The stations, in turn, should obtain accreditation, which usually takes six months, purchase equipment and so on. I mean, the process will take time,” Shabdanov said.
As to the cost of vehicle inspection, it will be discussed, according to Shabdanov.
Opinions of specialists
Vlad Ushakov, expert of the public foundation ‘EcoMir’ [Ecological world], indicated that most of the vehicles that are driven in Kyrgyzstan, particularly in Bishkek, are older than 15 years old. According to him, vehicles from Europe, America or South Korea that have worked out their resource do not end up in landfills, where they could be recycled, but instead go to Kyrgyzstan.
Ilgiz Kambarov, executive director of Green Alliance of Kyrgyzstan, also believes that motor vehicles are the most harmful air pollutants, and it is a prerequisite for introduction of vehicle inspection.
“I think such initiatives as vehicle inspection send signals to the society and car owners confirming that the state takes air pollution issues seriously and that this instrument is introduced as one of the actions. The vehicle inspection will not solve all the problems, but at least reduce noxious emissions of vehicles. Smog in Bishkek is an age-old problem and vehicles make the main contribution to it,” Kambarov said.
According to Zhanybek Kulumbetov, expert of ‘Unison Group’, Bishkek particularly has a very high traffic. He said that most of the vehicles have served for a long time and are not new.
“And in peak hours this stream of worn-out cars gets stuck in traffic jams and produce harmful emissions. Therefore, vehicle inspection is needed to monitor the condition of vehicles and minimise the excesses of harmful gas,” he said.
However, Sergei Krivoruchko, specialist in environmental security and nature management, has a different opinion. According to him, the issues related to air pollution by automotive emissions were relevant 10-20 years ago, but not now. So, it is reasonable to introduce inspection only to ensure technical safety of vehicles, but not environmental safety.
According to him, only few vehicles will not meet the environmental requirements to pollutant emissions into the atmosphere, and it would be unreasonable to introduce vehicle inspection just for them. Krivoruchko said it would be reasonable to vest additional powers to Road Patrol Service officers for them to detect high-pollution cars during patrolling.
“It can be done during working raids and it would be enough to get the situation in order,” said Krivoruchko.
In turn, analyst Marat Musuraliev reminds that a full vehicle inspection is the inspection of the technical condition of a vehicle, i.e. chassis, engine, and other components, so the inspection is critical in relation to road safety.
“The point is that vehicles that weigh 1 tonne and more and moving dozens and even hundreds of kilometres per hour are mainly sources of heightened risk and then a means of carriage of people and cargo,” the expert said. “Therefore, vehicle inspection is an obligatory condition and with due control is can be made transparent with a minimum level of corruption.”
What else is needed but vehicle inspection?
According to Marat Musuraliev, introduction of vehicle inspection could mitigate the problem of environmental pollution. According to him, emissions all over the world are being reduced by converting vehicles to natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, and recently methane, condensed natural gas, has become popular in Europe.
Furthermore, he continues, other actions should be taken as well to solve environmental issues in full. It refers to construction of multilevel junctions at intersections, crosswalks, and promotion of electric vehicles.
“But the last point should be implemented provided that the problem of electricity generation deficiency in Kyrgyzstan, which is already over 17 per cent of overall consumption, is handled before. It is good that the deficiency can be covered by imports,” Musuraliev said.
According to Sergei Krivoruchko, specialist in environmental security and nature management, today a few factors have their impact on the quality of the community air in Bishkek – high-rise construction, which left the city with no ventilation of lowest atmospheric layers, and the decreased number of green spaces. Another problem is traffic jams, which appeared due to overcrowding of the city, he said.
The significant contribution, according to Krivoruchko, to air pollution is made by private houses that get heated by coal or other solid fuels in winter. This issue can be solved by provision of gas or electricity supply.
“Such factors as restrained urban conditions, residential areas with poor infrastructure, and removal of trees have a direct impact on the urban air quality. These and some other issues need to be solved in the first place,” the expert said.
Zhanybek Kulumbetov, expert of ‘Unison Group’, also said that vehicle inspection alone cannot solve environmental issues.
“It is necessary to improve the quality of automobile fuel and regulate transport movement options,” said the expert. “In other words, road capacity should be optimised and load on them should be spread out correctly.”
Risks and how to avoid them
Experts indicate that the key risk of vehicle inspection could be corrupt practices. According to Ilgiz Kambarov, executive director of Green Alliance of Kyrgyzstan, noted that there is a probability of pseudo-inspections and illegal incomes due to the corruption.
“This threat is real if the inspecting body turns a blind eye to offences and falsifies numbers. But if they have everything under control, there will be real improvements,” he said.
According to analyst Marat Musuraliev, the system of vehicle inspection must be plain in order to prevent risks. Besides, according to him, the procedure must be affordable.
“In other words, the price should be so that it would be cheaper and easier for car owners to bring their vehicle to a required condition instead of trying to ‘bribe’ the procedure,” he said.
According to the analyst, all inspection stations need to be equipped with a video surveillance system, recording of every stage passing, and the option to make cashless payment, i.e. via POS terminals and scanning QR codes via smartphones. Thus, according to him, the system will be transparent and have minimum corruption practice.
According to Zhanybek Kulumbetov, expert of ‘Unison Group’, vehicle inspection should be brought back based on the experience of previous years. He said that inspections were cancelled at the time for a reason, so all the reasons should be reviewed and new rules should be adopted based on the huge benefit for the society, city and ecology together.
According to the Ministry of Economy, “some actions will be initiated” to prevent corruption schemes during vehicle inspection. According to Bakytbek Shabdanov, chief of management, technical regulation and metrology, all processes will be automated and the unified information system will be created.