Rawalpindi to get new vehicle inspection system by April

All vehicles in the division will be required to obtain a fitness certificate from these stations

RAWALPINDI: Abandoning the decades-old transport inspection system, Rawalpindi city managers plan to install a modern vehicle inspection and certification station by the end of March. Talking to APP, an official of Regional Transport Authority (RTA) said that construction work for the station on 13 kanals of land near Rawat, along the Grand Trunk Road, has started and it is hoped that the work will be completed by mid-March. The RTA official further said that the Punjab government had it made mandatory for commercial vehicles in passenger and freight class to pass a fitness test. The test will be conducted by Opus Inspection, a Swedish firm, which is expected to start operations in Pindi soon. Opus Inspection will set up 39 modern vehicle inspection and certification stations (VICS) in 36 districts of Punjab. Its stations have already started work in Lahore, he added.

According to the new system, buses, vans, cabs, trolleys and trucks will be issued a certificate after alignment, brake, headlight, emission, vehicle noise and visual inspection followed by vehicle suspension verification. The transport department will charge Rs1,080 as a fee per transport vehicle as inspection fee. Each delivery van, cab, rickshaw and motorbike rickshaw will have to pay Rs720 for their certificates. A renewal fee of Rs540 will be charged from heavy (HTV) and light transport vehicles (LTVs) every six months. Delivery van, cab, rickshaw and motorbike rickshaw will have to pay Rs450 for renewals. “No public transport will be allowed to operate on roads without passing the seven inspections of international standard which aims to ensure road safety and minimize the number of accidents,” the official said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2018.