Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Gov’t warns fly-by-night mechanics

Gov’t warns fly-by-night mechanics

Authorities inspect an unfinished truck chassis that was being made with scrap at a garage in Phnom Penh last week. National Police
Authorities inspect an unfinished truck chassis that was being made with scrap at a garage in Phnom Penh last week. National Police

Gov’t warns fly-by-night mechanics

The Ministry of Interior on Friday threatened legal action against lawbreaking auto shops that work without a licence or illegally assemble vehicles from scrap parts.

Ministry officials, who have inspected 150 auto shops since the start of the year, found that only 20 per cent had registered with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, saying the rest are illegal. Even some of the legal ones have committed crimes by making questionably safe vehicles as per their customers’ orders.

Public Order Department deputy director Ti Long said that the ministry will first educate violators. If they then don’t mend their ways, their shops will be closed down and operators will be sent to court.

“Their garages are illegal and they reassemble the vehicles [in ways that are] even more illegal, since they satisfy their customers and not the norms of Ministry of Public Works and Transportation,” said Long.

Preap Chanvibol, director of the transportation department at the Transportation Ministry, said that assembly shops require a special permit and at least one engineer on staff.

Cumulative tariffs on car imports will soon rise to about 130 per cent of vehicle cost according to Antoine Jeanson, operations director at Automotive Asia (Cambodia), but tariffs for scrap metal and parts range from 0 to 35 per cent.

Illegal dealers get a cost advantage by importing scrap and insurance write-offs and assembling custom vehicles from the pieces, Jeanson continued, and their customers also reap the savings.

However, the resulting vehicles aren’t built to standards and can be very unsafe, according to the Ministry of Interior and authorised importers.

MOST VIEWED

  • Wing Bank opens new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004

    Wing Bank celebrates first anniversary as commercial bank with launch of brand-new branch. One year since officially launching with a commercial banking licence, Wing Bank on March 14 launched a new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004. The launch was presided over by

  • Girl from Stung Meanchey dump now college grad living in Australia

    After finishing her foundational studies at Trinity College and earning a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2022, Ron Sophy, a girl who once lived at the Stung Meanchey garbage dump and scavenged for things to sell, is now working at a private

  • Ministry using ChatGPT AI to ‘ease workload’; Khmer version planned

    The Digital Government Committee is planning to make a Khmer language version of popular artificial intelligence (AI) technology ChatGPT available to the public in the near future, following extensive testing. On March 9, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications revealed that it has been using the

  • Wat Phnom hornbills attract tourists, locals

    Thanks to the arrival of a friendly flock of great hornbills, Hour Rithy, a former aviculturist – or raiser of birds – in Kratie province turned Phnom Penh tuk tuk driver, has seen a partial return to his former profession. He has become something of a guide

  • PM urges end to ‘baseless’ international Ream base accusations

    Prime Minister Hun Sen urges an end to “baseless” foreign accusations surrounding the development of the Kingdom’s Ream Naval Base, as the US has consistently suggested that the base is being expanded to accommodate a Chinese military presence. Hun Sen renewed his calls while

  • Almost 9K tourists see equinox sunrise at Angkor Wat

    Nearly 9,000 visitors – including 2,226 international tourists – gathered at Angkor Wat on March 21 to view the spring equinox sunrise, according to a senior official of the Siem Reap provinical tourism department. Ngov Seng Kak, director of the department, said a total of 8,726 people visited Angkor Wat to