SL Army marching into Department of Motor Traffic

Department of Motor Traffic 

• Are the Department of Motor Traffic operations going in the right direction?

The Department of Motor Traffic is the Government regulator for registering motor vehicles and issuing of driving licenses according to the Motor Traffic Act. 

Over the years, many charges have been levelled against irregularities and frauds taking place with the processes involved in the motor vehicle registrations and the issuance of driving licenses. These have occurred periodically.

One year back, in December 2019, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa made an unexpected fact-finding inspection visit to the Department of Motor Traffic at the Werahera Driving License office complex. After interacting with members of the public who were present to obtain various services, the President advised the staff to better understand the problems faced by the public and ensure that solutions are provided without unnecessary delays and inconvenience.

Is that happening as envisioned by the President? Can services be obtained easily? Is it now a better public service?

In 2005 it became very clear that processes at the Department of Motor Traffic needed technological changes to meet requirements of the time. The aim of this was to ensure the eradication of irregularities and fraud that were rampant and also to provide the public with an efficient service. 

The Smart card Driving Licence project under BOT basis as a Public-Private Partnership project was initiated in 2006. Seven years passed, and it became obvious that the Department of Motor Traffic was unable to take over the operations due to the lack of technical capability among their cadre. 

The contract was extended a few times after 2016 and after 11 years, finally, the present Government has decided to take over the system and hand over the technical operations done by the private supplier to the Army from 1 January 2021. 

The previous Government also invited fresh tenders to update the driving license with new technology but they were cancelled or put on hold due to various reasons.

After taking over from January 2021 the DL cards, consumables, hardware, etc. will be ordered based on the Government procurement process, which requires technical and financial evaluations. Therefore, concluding an order with most competitive, technically qualified suppliers will take a long time and it is left to be seen whether the high level of service provided today can be maintained, leave alone enhanced as requested by the President. The Government has prior experiences where this was attempted in the Passport and National ID situations. A case in point is in the National ID where tenders for cards were called and cancelled repeatedly resulting only in the extension of orders to the previous supplier at higher prices. 

Whatever the new process, it should ensure that the public will benefit from the change and it should also bring about additional conveniences. If this does not happen, the Government’s expectations will not materialise.

A more relevant question is where is the change needed? To provide a more efficient and fraud-free public service, is it not the front office personnel from the Department of Motor Traffic who have direct communication with the public, who need to be under better control and discipline? Is the Army being deployed in the correct area?

An individual who obtains a new driver’s license pays the department Rs. 1,700 (for one vehicle type), Rs. 2,000 (for two vehicle types) and R.s 2,250 (for three vehicle types) respectively. It also costs an additional Rs. 500 to obtain the driver’s license in one day. Most individuals prefer to select the same-day service due to convenience.

It is estimated, that through the existing driving license issuing system, which became operational in 2009 and for which the Department of Motor Traffic made no investment, the Government earned an income of over Rs. 14 billion during the last 11 years as per above charges levied on the public.  It is important to note that the private company had invested on the complete technology and infrastructure for the project while providing an uninterrupted service without a single breakdown during this time. 

With the proposed changeover from January 2021, the Government will have to seriously consider whether an added burden in expenses is being taken on. Or if this is being done to stop the irregularities and illegal transactions and to provide the public an easy and efficient service the Government needs to look at where the irregularities are happening as mentioned previously.

The Department of Motor Traffic is also planning to introduce a new Motor Vehicle Registration System to streamline and to curb irregularities and malpractices. This too is under a Public- Private Partnership contract, and is the most economical solution as the Government will not incur any investment for the implementation of fresh technology. 

While this article is being prepared we have reliable information that the President has given instructions to hand over the present motor vehicle registration back office work immediately from the RMV staff to the Army.