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| Sunday, 15 August 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Metamorphosis of the RMV By Kaminie Jayanthi Liyanage
The much-maligned Registration of Motor Vehicles Office (RMV), riddled with accusations of corruption and bribe-taking for the registration of motor vehicles might yet see better days. The recently appointed Commissioner of Motor Traffic, B. Wijayaratne, reveals that he has plans up his sleeve for the metamorphosis of this sprawling entity into a customer-oriented and streamlined, user-friendly institution through the governance of e-motoring. The project is an undertaking of the Information and Communications Technology Agency of Sri Lanka, a company wholly owned by the Government of Sri Lanka. The e-motoring idea had been initiated by Gamini Senarath, the former commissioner who is now the additional secretary to the Prime Minister. The Department of Motor Traffic, executing all powers vested by the Motor Traffic Act, including vehicle registrations, transfers, issuing driving licences and other activities of vehicle administration, has assessed that the inefficient and ineffective performance of the RMV has resulted in its rather negative current public image. It also feels that the department's activities are not transparent enough to create a positive image, and that the RMV's present computerised vehicle registration system is limited only for the printing of certificates of registration and storing the required data.
Issuing of driving licences too is limited only to printing driving licences without taking the relevant data into an electronic media. Through the computerisation of RMV activities, a more customer-friendly service is envisaged to remove the drawn-out flow of procedures, ensuring the road worthiness of vehicles plying on the roads with vehicle emissions reduced as directed by the Court of Appeal. A major objective of the anticipated changes is to remove delays experienced in issuing driving licences and the registration or transfer of motor vehicles. "We cater to a large number of customers - around 15,000 applications a month for registering of vehicles," Commissioner Wijayaratne estimates. "A similar number is received for driving licences as well." A new counter, issuing replacements for lost driving licences within one-day basis, has already come in to operation to cater to the entire country. The levy is an additional Rs. 500, to the normal fee. According to Commissioner Wijayaratne, the previous year's issuance of vehicle registrations had been 180,000, with a somewhat similar output experienced in the renewals of registration. "This raised about Rs.1,450 M income which went to the Treasury but the public goodwill we have encountered has been negative, due to delays and the feeling that RMV is a corrupted place. But in any transaction, there must be a giver and taker, so we need to expedite and improve our system rather than letting it be affected by the feeling that a bribe needs to be given to obtain a licence." In the current procedure, the Divisional Secretary, or the District Secretary collects applications, in addition to the Motor Traffic Examiners in Kachcheris. Applications from 230 offices of Divisional Secretaries and 25 kachcheris come to RMV office in Colombo. This huge influx, added to the applications received from customers in Colombo, results in the delays in processing. Commissioner Wijayaratne says that the current computer system in RMV had been installed in 1990. The current computer data consists only of the driving licences issued from 1998 to the present. This creates limitations in entertaining applications for lost licences prior to that era, on the one-day counter. The limited number of staff officers, added to the inadequacies of the computer system adds to the difficulties in the process procedures. He has already requested for 3-4 Additional Commissioners and feels that with this addition, the situation should ease off within a month. He has also requested the Ministry of Public Administration for a batch of officers from the Sri Lanka Administrative Service who are currently undergoing training. "e-motoring should be operating by the year 2006. It is going to be a long process, aided by the World Bank and such e-motoring has been successful in countries like India and Singapore." Commissioner Wijayaratne says that by year-end, RMV is also hoping to introduce a computer based system for written examinations and develop a booklet similar to Atlas Hall questions and answers available for GCE A/L and O/L students. "We are focusing on this area to create a broader knowledge base for the incoming new drivers." Through the whole rejuvenation efforts, he hopes to introduce the concept of customer orientation to the RMV staff and prepare them to the level of winning a certificate of productivity from the Productivity Secretariat. "This arduous and difficult task I am undertaking because I want to change the organisational culture of RMV," asserts Commissioner Wijayaratne. Will the RMV staff accept this new culture? "It will take time. But step by step, we have to move forward." Also in the offing are amendments to the Motor Traffic Act with the intention of reducing the escalating road accidents. Wijayaratne says that although the total vehicle fleet registered in the country comes close to a couple of hundred thousands, only 51 officers are available for checking their roadworthiness. An increase of this cadre, by at least 30 persons is required, is his assessment. |
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