As 10,500 blue and white taxis, commonly referred to as “lada”, are pending extinction in line with overhauling the transport sector, the city Transport Bureau officials put forth a couple of schemes on how to go about the implementation.

They proposed to knock down the vehicles and sell the spare parts or melt down and sell the metal to local manufacturers and submitted the recommendation to the Ministry of Finance two weeks ago.

Dawit Zeleke, deputy head of the Bureau, said the ultimate decision falls in the hands of the Ministry that is spearheading the initiative, indicating that the Bureau is merely providing a recommendation.

"It's the safest and systematic way of termination," he told Fortune.

Lada taxis gained popularity in the country in the 1970s after the Dergue Regime turned to the Soviet Union for car imports.

Owing to their long-time service to residents of the capital, the Addis Abeba City Administration designed a project to give a proper farewell which led to an agreement for a duty-free privilege to import complete and partially knocked-down parts of vehicles two years ago.

The agreement was made between the vehicle owners and the Ministry of Finance until it was repealed by Minister Ahmed Shide four months ago.

The vehicle owners are on board with the replacement entering a deal with Elauto Engineering & Trading Plc, to assemble the imported spare parts. But they were hoping to get a more profitable outcome upon the termination. They prefer to sell the spare parts rather than melt down the property.

Ayer Amba Taxi Meter Plc. is one of the 211 taxi owner companies registered at the Addis Abeba Transport Bureau, with 39 taxi owners under its fleet.

General Manager, Azmach Fantahun disclosed they had already sold the spare parts of five vehicles to local shops around the Somali Tera area, which serves as an underground hub for "lost and found" parts.

According to Azmach, close to 250,000 Br is earned from the spare parts, which rather dwindles to 30,000 Br when the vehicles are melted.

"It would be a huge loss on our part," he said.

Officials, however, believe that vehicles surpassed the end of their lifespan. They cite that emissions from these old timers are a source of urban air pollution that could be avoided in a world where vehicles are responsible for 25pc of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.

"Their prominent disadvantage should not be overlooked," said Mohammed Hussien, technical advisor at the Bureau.

It has become customary to find Lada taxis idle on the streets of the capital.

The decline in business looms as the capital's residents prefer to seek services from taxi-hailing companies to meet their transportation needs. This has left blue and white taxi owners marginalised, with their slice of the pie growing thinner by the day.

Muhdin Gergicho, 39, is sitting in his taxi around Garmet, trying to salvage a customer.

The vehicle has been his lifeline for nearly 11 years, but he has found himself struggling with higher maintenance costs than what he gets.