ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) — The Antigua and Barbuda Government has defended the decision to ban the importation of used vehicles more than five years old into the island.

Government Chief of Staff Lionel McHurst, appearing on a radio programme here Wednesday, said a car more than five years old imported into the country does not have a long life-span.

“And therefore, it becomes a problem to dispose of,” he told radio listeners, noting that Antigua and Barbuda no longer exports metal “like we used to”.

“So the old cars that become disused in Antigua do two things; they stay either in people’s yards or on the streets and they become places where rats breed… and on the streets they become a nuisance to others who want to use the streets.”

The Government decision went into effect on October 15, but some consumers have complained that the used vehicles provide an alternative to the expensive vehicles being sold here.

However, Hurst said that Japan exports vehicles to Antigua and Barbuda that it does not need.

“In Japan, at the end of the 10-year cycle they tell you to get rid of the car,” he said, adding “we don’t want to import their junk … even though many of them look beautiful …”