The fumes and exhaust let out by over 1 million cars in Cairo has led to a distressing health problems like asthma and chronic respiratory conditions in the city. To prevent the problem from accelerating further, the government has taken on the necessary step of switching over to eco-friendly cars to serve the capital as cabs. The result is that since March 2006, Hyundais, Kias and Volkswagens have come in so that a fleet of 150 new bright yellow “City Cab” have graced the city.



To popularize the cabs, the government even lowered the import tax from 100 percent to 40 percent for the cab companies. Such cars run only on natural gas, causing no pollution and would be used no longer then 5 years after which a new contract would call forth imports of newer models.



The only downside is that the fares of these cabs are up to 25 percent higher than the black-and-white taxis. 20 percent of Egyptians earn less than $1 a day and this luxury ride is one they ill afford. Hope the Egyptian government is sensitive to this issue too.





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