Photo: Darren Agius (Department of Information)

The Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects Ian Borg announced the largest package of transport financial grants ever awarded through Transport Malta, including five different schemes. The aim is to encourage the transition to sustainable mobility.

One of the five grants include an incentive scheme to enable the public to change their car engines to run on Autogas, aimed at reducing further emissions from road traffic. For this measure, a person can benefit from a grant of €400 per vehicle in category M1 (motor vehicle used for the transport of persons and which may carry no more than eight passengers in addition to the driver) or N1 (motor vehicle used for the transport of goods with maximum mass not exceeding 3.5 tonnes) which is modified to be able to run on LPG.

The scheme comes into effect on the 1^st January, 2021 and closes on the 31^st December, 2021 or earlier if the available grants have been issued. People who have converted their vehicle to Autogas during the past years may still apply for the scheme. The grants in this scheme shall be assigned on a first-come-first-served basis.

“We are once again here to continue offering more financial incentives to Maltese families in order to make use of more sustainable and efficient means of transport. It is worth recalling that this government is working seriously on the subject of alternative transport, not only on the basis of these financial measures, but also through incentives that we have taken and are still taking,” said Minister Borg.

He also explained how these schemes are a demonstration of an environmentally friendly government, and added: “As a government, we are committed to continue making a difference in order to achieve our main goal, and to maintain our European commitment as well.”

These grant schemes are extremely important given the island nation’s reliance on vehicles with internal combustion engines. Malta has no tram, trolleybus or metro network, leaving bus and taxi as the only means of land public transportation. For information, please check this link.

28 April 2021