DUSHANBE, July 11, 2011, Asia-Plus — By mayor’s order appropriate agencies have prepared opinion letters regarding further use of eight-seat Chinese Hafei minivans in the capital city, Firouz Rasoulov, head of the branch of the State Transport Control Service in Dushanbe, told Asia-Plus today.
According to him, reports by the Traffic Police Directorate, Dushanbe Prosecutor’s Office, Ministry of Transport, and Tajik Technical University say that use of the eight-seat Chinese minivans is not safe for carrying passengers. “Besides, we have received resolutions from experts working with the plants manufacturing these minivans,” said Rasoulov. “They say these minivans are intended for use as a family automobile but not for carrying passengers.”
He, however, noted that the mayor’s office would get the last word regarding use of the Chinese minivans in the city or banning their drivers from carrying passengers in Dushanbe.
When the Chinese minivans first appeared on the streets of Dushanbe around 2006, drivers and passengers affectionately dubbed them the Tangem, named after a female Korean soap opera star popular on local television. For many Dushanbe drivers, these diminutive vehicles became an important source of income.
