Ministry of Transport working to solve licensing woes

Minister of Transport Devant Maharaj

August 10, 2011: Minister of Transport Devant Maharaj on Tuesday visited the Licensing Office on Wrightson Road, Port of spain following several complaints from members of the public and assured the problems will be addressed soon.

Maharaj was accompanied by Transport Commissioner Reuben Cato and Permanent Secretary Myrna Thompson.

He said, “Cato has told me that numerous appeals have been made to have the office adequately staffed but this has fallen on deaf ears over the years. I have asked the permanent secretary to explore an idea we have to see if we can address this in a short possible time maybe in a month or two.”

Thompson said the Ministry has spoken to the Public Management Consulting division in the Ministry of Public Administration in terms of addressing the staff issues.

The Minister observed that “the licensing office operates at 50 percent less than it is supposed to operate at — we need to address that as a matter of urgency, that is why you have long lines, disgruntled customers, they are not being processed in a timely manner.”

“This facility was built in 1951 and can no longer service the needs of the 2011 population — that needs to be addressed, and one of the ways to address it is the access centres across Trinidad and Tobago, which the Ministry is committed to implementing.

"Next week we have several presentations for that project and we hope within the shortest possible time it would be implemented. With regards to technology, the authority has to be updated, we hope the new Motor Vehicle Authority which is to be introduced shortly would be able to address those issues, the solutions are there but they have to come faster,” he explained.