PN pledges free licence for cars driven under 500km a year

Cars driven up to 500 kilometres a year would pay no road licence fee under a Nationalist government, Opposition leader Alex Borg said on Tuesday as he unpacked his party's transport proposals.

Borg was speaking during an event at which the Nationalist Party introduced its 11 candidates for the 12th district.

They are Charles Azzopardi, David Bonello, Ivan Castillo, Graziella Galea, Joseph Grech, Anton Mifsud, Jonathan Muscat, Ian Vassallo Hagi, Rachel Williams, George Vital Zammit and Borg himself.

Azzopardi told those present that Borg had arrived late for the event because of traffic.

Outlining the party’s transport proposals, Borg said the low-mileage licence scheme would be linked to the PN’s wider plans for mass transport.

“Don’t worry, this scheme is aligned with mass transport. We won’t have inconsistencies like in the programme of someone else,” he said, giving a nod to the Labour Party's traffic management proposals.

“First they say I will pay you to give me your license and then shortly after tell you I will pay you to buy a bigger car. And then we have a traffic problem,” he said as the crowd cheered. 

Under the proposed scheme, cars driven up to 500 kilometres a year would be exempt from paying a circulation licence fee.

For cars driven between 500 kilometres and 5,000 kilometres a year, the fee would rise gradually up to 80 per cent of the full licence fee. Beyond 5,000 kilometres, the fee would continue to increase until it reaches the full licence amount.

Borg said figures from the National Statistics Office showed that the average car in Malta was driven about 7,000 kilometres a year.

He said the PN had set the upper threshold at 5,000 kilometres because it wanted the scheme to have a long-term impact.

“Imagine we go from 7000km to 5000km for the average amount. Imagine how much less congestion, less traffic, less pollution, less mental health issues, less respiratory issues there would be.”

Borg repeatedly stressed that the scheme would be optional and would not be imposed on those who don't want to opt in.

He said it could benefit those like more mature drivers who use their car once or twice a week and people who work from home.

The PN’s other transport proposals include a national mass rapid transport system, primarily underground, starting with the first phase of a north-south line.

Borg said a Nationalist government would aim to have the first line running within its first five years in office.

He also said the PN would immediately publish studies on a mass rapid transport system if elected, criticising the government for spending years just to work on studies instead of implementing their findings.

"Our studies are ready," Borg said.

Also during the event, Azzopardi, the party’s shadow minister for hobbies, and Mifsud, a former Mtarfa mayor, appealed to hunters and trappers to return to the Nationalist Party.