Transport Ministry launches digital inspection sticker system

The Ministry of Works and Transport has launched its digital inspection sticker system, available at 65 locations by May.

Minister of Transport Rohan Sinanan said on Friday this was the next step in the digital transformation of the Licensing Division.

Speaking at Sookhai’s Diesel Services in Charlieville, one of the first locations to trial the new system, Sinanan said the old paper-based system had led to a lot of unethical practices.

He said when licensing began its crackdown on inspections, there was a mad rush to inspect vehicles. He recalled being at a function where someone, not knowing he was minister, bragged about getting all of her vehicles inspected that day.

Sinanan said the woman paid for a fleet of vehicles to be inspected, at a cost of $1,500 for one, and was able to have her stickers delivered to her door.

“In order for a vehicle to get this (new) sticker, they must present themselves at one of the pits or an inspection garage.

“I am happy today to be working on the transformation of licensing. To date, we can boast that almost all the services at licensing office will be able to be done online and information will be available in real time.”

He said garages would no longer have to go to licensing to collect stickers as they would now be able to order them online.

He also said, while there were 65 active sites preparing to launch, 19 were active and already delivering the electronic stickers but the ministry was trying to have as many as 100-125 inspection sites and encouraged anyone who wished to become an inspection site to go online and apply.

Sinanan said about 95 per cent of existing vehicles have been added to the new system. The cost of the inspection, he said, remained the same at $300.

Transport Commissioner Clive Clarke said the new system would allow for accountability, transparency, safety, and data validation.

“In so doing, the system will strengthen enforcement.

“Vehicles can now be accessed on the nation’s road with handheld devices. Enforcement officers can now verify your information by the sticker on the nation’s road (and) can also verify if your sticker matches your vehicle.”

He also said if a vehicle was flagged for sanctions such as unpaid tickets, the offender would not be able to conduct any transactions at licensing.

Sookhai’s Diesel Services CEO Richie Sookhai said the new system is going to make the licensing experience seamless and help stamp out a lot of the corruption in the system from the past.

“I’m happy to see the ministry moving away (from paper-based) to a more electronic platform.”

Commenting on the state of TT's roads, Sinanan said the ministry will also pay attention to overweight vehicles damaging them. He said he has asked Clarke to look into how trucks could be deregulated once they were caught on roads they were not licensed for.

“The same contractors that sometimes you have to pay to repair the roads are the ones responsible for damaging the road in the first place.”