cars
on Tara's Ethiopian Adventure (Ethiopia), 19/Nov/2009 09:54, 34 days ago
I was really surprised the other day when I found out it would cost half my monthly salary to hire a car for the day (not including petrol). However on further investigation I could see why it may cost so much. The government has imposed a 100% import tax on all vehicles so that a car that might cost£5,000 in the UK would cost £10,000. This explains why there are so many very old cars that look like they are about to fall apart as they try to eek every last penny out of the car. However, most of these cars are only really comfortable on tarmac roads. A report from the World Bank claims that 47% of roads in Ethiopia are paved but it feels a lot less than this. For example only the one main road that goes through Ambo is paved...the rest are dirt tracks. This lack of tarmac means there is a big demand for more heavy weight vehicles such as 4 by 4’s. Most of the 4 by 4’s in Ethiopia are Toyota Land Cruisers. I understand these cost at least£50,000 and so when you add the 100% tax you are looking at £100,000. Clearly well out of the price range of the average Ethiopian. The GNP per capita is about £450 and even the average annual wage for a well qualified and respected university lecturer is only around £1500. Another issue to consider is that the government has made a deal with a particular dealership so that all new Toyota’s come through them. If you happened to purchase a Toyota from another dealership then you could expect to pay up to£2000 for a‘safety check’ by the government affiliated dealership. No wonder so few people in Ethiopia own cars. Most vehicles in Ethiopia are used for public hire (either in the form of taxi’s or hire cars) or owned by Embassy staff, Government Officials and NGO’s. Most people walk and use public transport. Transport in Ethiopia is both efficient and inefficient. Efficient in the fact that most buses or minibuses will not go anywhere until they are totally full. Inefficient as most people have to rely on public transport which can take days to get from one part of the country to another as it overcomes poor roads and stops in every small town and village. You can understand why these vehicles would like to get as much business out of every journey when the original capital needed to own the vehicle is so huge. And why it costs so much to hire a vehicle for the day. You can also see why there may be difficulties in transporting goods, such as food, around the country.