DUSHANBE, August 3, Asia-Plus - More than 16,000 cars for a total amount of US$28.3 million have been delivered to Tajikistan since the beginning of the year, according to information from the Ministry of State Revenues and Tax Collections (MSRTC).

Mr. Aslam Akramov, the head of the Customs Department of the MSRTC, says that more than 21,000 cars totaling US$41.8 million were delivered to Tajikistan last year.   

“Cars are delivered to Tajikistan both from the CIS countries and far abroad countries,” the source said, noting that there are different rates of customs duties on the imported depending on the engine volume and a year of production.  

“Thus, under Tajikistan’s Customs Code if the volume of engine of the imported car is up to 2,500 cubic centimeters the customs clearance will be at the rate of US$0.10 per one cubic centimeter,” Mr. Akramov said.  “Besides, if the car was produced more than five year ago, the rates of customs duties and taxes will be five times as big,” the MSRTC official said, adding that this point of the country’s Customs Code is aimed at protecting domestic market against import of second-hand and old cars.  

In the meantime, according to information from the Ministry of Transport, at present some 210,000 motor vehicles, including more than 150,000 cars, have been reported in the republic.  Compared to last year, a number of motor vehicles, including trucks, passenger and special cars, in Tajikistan has increased by 9,000.   Of those 150,000 vehicles, more than 26,000 are running along the streets of Dushanbe , according to the source from the Ministry of Transport.   

According to Mr. Zarif Ismoilov, director general of the “Tajikistan Perfect” company dealing with servicing “Mercedes-Benz” cars, some 30 percent of a total number of motor vehicles in Tajikistan are Western type cars, and the majority of them are running in Dushanbe .  Mr. Ismoilov has noted that 70 percent of vehicles in Tajikistan are second-hand.