President Choummaly Sayasone has advised the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to introduce concrete measures to stop the import of secondhand cars, as Vientiane is facing traffic congestion. “The ministry should carefully check and recheck to ensure that the import of secondhand vehicles is really halted,” Mr Choummaly said as he delivered the policy to leaders and officials of the ministry in Vientiane on Thursday. The government had ordered the ministry to stop the import of secondhand vehicles earlier this year but the number of secondhand cars on sale in Vientiane has remained unchanged over the past few months, raising questions as to whether the import of these vehicles had really stopped.
Mr Choummaly, who is also Secretary General of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, said Vientiane was a small city and with the number of cars growing rapidly, traffic jams were occurring, so the ministry should come up with new measures to stop further imports.