Media reports that the EAC bloc is moving to increase taxes on used vehicles have drawn mixed reactions. With the justification being to reduce the impact of used car exhaust fumes, the measure would yield positive results under normal circumstances. 

However, the reality of used vehicles imported into East African Community (EAC) is unusual. Unusual in the sense that most of them are literally being dumped (in the garbage-disposal sense), thus the ex-warehouse price is negligible. What builds into the cost-insurance and freight (CIF) price is the shipment cost. And since CIF is the basis for computing import duty and subsequent applicable taxes, it may have no desired impact because importers can decide to switch to vehicles whose ex-warehouse price is the minimal.

Therefore, taxation must be accompanied with other measures that both protect the environment and ensure appropriate vehicles suited to the region are imported. The three possible measures are age-limit, exhaust fume management on used vehicles, and tropicalisation on new ones.

Age limit has worked well in Kenya, thanks to her developed local assembly capacity coupled with generous mortgage terms for buyers of new vehicles. Lessons for the region: Exhaust-fume management has potential for employing TVET graduates in the region. All we need is a legislation requiring replacement of the exhaust system on every vehicle, with one made in the EAC bloc that is fitted with a catalytic converter. This is a device that neutralises harmful exhaust fumes, and is compulsory standard equipment in Europe.

With such a simple legislation, we can help create a big number of fabrication workshops across EAC. Kyeyune Industries in Uganda is a pioneer here, though they are yet to fix the catalytic converter.

Another key factor is tropicalisation. Tropicalisation sums up all those aspects, innovations and processes that make a vehicle appropriate for operating in the tropics, where East Africa is located. It can be either at concept and engineering level, with in-built designs, or it can be at post-engineering level, whereby simple mechanical modifications are made to key components to make the vehicle tropic-compliant.

These include, inter alia: The suspension system mainly springs and shock absorbers, where a system conceived, designed and engineered for Japanese or other developed country roads will not function properly on our roads; The brake-system, notably brake-drums, with those engineered for a temperate climate becoming ineffective in our tropical heat.

Another notable feature, especially regarding trucks, is gradability. This refers to the steepest gradient a truck can climb when fully loaded.

Trucks engineered to work in relatively flat terrain cannot perform in steep terrains. Trucks assembled in Kenya, for example, are pre-tested at a steep slope called Mtito wa Ndeyi on Mombasa highway. The field-tested and recommended gradability (in geometric degrees) is then communicated to the product development department of the manufacturers for appropriate engineering.

Ground clearance is another key tropicalisation factor. This is the height of the vehicle belly from the ground, and it is a function of both the terrain and road condition. This practice of ‘lifting’ vehicles is common in Uganda precisely because some of the vehicles imported into the country are too low for the country’s roads.

Tropical temperatures differ from those of the temperate climate, thus a radiator designed for the temperate climate will be ineffective in the tropics.

Truck bodies are designed and purpose-built. A truck meant to carry light but bulky cargo, like mattresses, will have a long body, a single rear axle, and an extended rear overhang. Once imported here, such trucks are usually loaded to the maximum with high-density cargo, such as cement, a factor that explains common sights of grounded cargo-laden trucks on highways.

Another vital feature is the turbo-charger. This is a simple turbine (‘turbo’), fitted across the exhaust system of the vehicle. Its single function is to boost air supply to the engine, propelled and turned by the escaping exhaust fumes. This air supply boost is necessary in high altitude areas, like parts of Rwanda, Kenya, and Tanzania, where the natural supply of air is limited, thus limiting engine performance. Uganda’s proximity to the equator moderates its climate such that even in high altitude areas like Kapchorwa or Bundibugyo, a naturally-aspirated engine (non-turbo) will have enough air supply and function normally with no need of a turbo-charger.

Regarding ventilation and aeration, whoever has travelled in an ‘Ipsum’-class vehicle must have noted the ventilation, which will ‘roast’ you live in our tropical heat!

Automatic transmission, where, given the nature of our rural roads, would be limited to ‘saloon’ cars only. These are some of the short-term measures we can take as EAC builds capacity to totally eliminate dumped vehicles which exporting companies find costly to dispose of in their countries.

The author is a partner at Peers Consult Kampala and CET Consulting, Kigali.

bukanga@yahoo.com