LTA eases vehicle growth rate cut

Amid soaring certificate of entitlement (COE) prices, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Wednesday that it will implement measures for a more gradual cut in vehicle growth rate.

In a statement, the agency said the vehicle growth rate will be reduced from the current 1.5 per cent per annum to 1 per cent per annum from August 2012. This will subsequently be further reduced to 0.5 per cent per annum from February 2013 to January 2015.

This is a revision from LTA’s previous announcement in October 2011 that it would reduce the vehicle growth rate from 1.5 per cent per annum to 0.5 per cent per annum from August 2012.

This gradual change will mean an additional 390 COEs or about a 10 per cent quota increase per month from August 2012 to February 2013.

The LTA has also decided to defer the claw-back of oversupplied COEs made in 2008 and 2009 by one year, to resume from August 2013 to January 2015. This deferment will make 266 more COEs available per month from August 2012 to July 2013.

To maintain a more stable supply of COEs in each category, LTA will also reduce the number of COEs for the Open Category, CAT E.

CAT E’s supply will be reduced from 25 per cent to 20 per cent from August 2012, then to 15 per cent from February 2013.

It is hoped that these measures will help reduce the spike in COE prices, which crossed a record-high price of $90,000 in two categories weeks ago.