In 2022, the state is expected to restart the smog check program that was cancelled by the administration under grounds of corruption and mismanagement.

State Secretary of Sustainable Economy and Tourism Mario Escobedo said smog check will be mandatory for vehicle renewal.

The state has already California based Worldwide Environmental to install smog check sites in Mexicali, Tijuana and Ensenada.

The other municipalities will have mobile sites, the outgoing state official said.

Five year old vehicles will have until March to get inspected while up to ten year old vehicles will have a June deadline.

All other vehicles could be inspected until December.

Inspections will cost 540 peso or about $27. The cost will drop by half for vehicle owners over 65 years of age.

Separately, Environmental Civic Committee President Pablo Chee told La Voz newspaper that the vehicle legalization program announced by President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador should have included provisions to force owners to get their cars inspected.

In the US, Chee referred, vehicles of up to eight years old are not forced to get smog inspections while the government promotes the purchase of hybrid or electric cars.

“If smog check inspections are made and vehicles do not pass, but still are registered we are opening the door to keep polluting the city,” Chee told the newspaper. “In that, we are not in agreement.”

The committee Chairman said the organization agrees in providing time to vehicles that do not pass tests for repair

However, he recalled that those vehicles were imported from the US as garbage that would not pass smog check inspections in their country.

“Whether the vehicle is illegal or not for us, the smog check program is a proposal to address the environmental issue,” Chee said. “We understand that the government seeks to raise funds by registering illegal vehicles. The committee has not been involved in the legality issue.”