Remove the dirty exhausts before we get more sick

Every single day we urban motorists see busses, trucks and motorcycles spewing black dirty smoke into the air. Drivers no longer can have their windows open in the early morning or late evenings after a thunderstorm to enjoy fresh cool air and instead need to have their climate control on with the air circulating inside function activated.

What is the solution in the near future? Take the dirty exhaust off the roads! Well this is why Puspakom was set up and this is why they are the only organisation in Malaysia to do vehicle inspections before a vehicle is allowed to be road worthy.

Item 4 below shows that getting clean air vehicles is very hard to control as many commercial vehicles are able to get approval from Puspakom inspection due to trickery from operators, drivers and vehicle owners.

Here are the benefits of inspection

i) Safety

Inspecting your vehicle twice a year will able to detect any mechanical problems that will jeopardize your vehicle’s road worthiness.

ii) Confidence

Thorough vehicle inspection give you a great sense of confidence and assurance that your vehicle is in good and optimal condition.

iii) Cost Saving

A 10 points vehicle inspection help you detect and ascertain any mechanical defects in your vehicle before it become more serious and costly.

iv) Environmental

Have your vehicle inspected to ensure that your vehicle does not emit excessive smoke and noxious gases that pollute the environment and in accordance to the Environment Act 1974.

v) Legality

Vehicle inspection at PUSPAKOM will protect you from any consequences of purchasing vehicles that suffer from irregularities such as ‘cut and joint’ and stolen vehicles. The inspection will verify the legality of your vehicle in conforming to all legal requirements of Road Transport Act 1987.

Recently the government and certain quarters are saying Puspakom is a monopoly and they should have a competitor. Now this is not an easy task for any new player to participate for the following reasons.

1. Puspakom over the years have invested heavily in their locations being in the right place…..near a Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan Raya (JPJ) or right next door to JPJ.
2. Puspakom has invested in manpower and equipment.
3. Puspakom has invested in equipment upgrades yearly.

For a new player to compete with Puspakom they need to invest in the following.

1. Expensive land cost to build a facility to cater to commercial vehicles.
2. Expensive equipment cost for testing.
3. Expensive manpower costs.
4. Expensive marketing costs to educate the public.

So who will be the company to take on Puspakom? We do not see any potential players in the market especially when you look at the start up costs against the cost of inspection charged.