Gov’t takes steps to eradicate negative perception of BLA

Outsourcing the inspection of new and used vehicles to privately owned authorised garages is one of the initiatives that Government is hoping will start the process of eradicating the negative perception publicly associated with the Barbados Licensing Authority (BLA).

During a press briefing at the BLA office at The Pine, St. Michael on Saturday, Minister of Transport, Works and Water Resources Ian Gooding-Edghill said that this initiative was among a series of upgrades aimed at improving customer service and efficiency at the authority.

He said that authorised garages will now be approved to undertake inspections and the issuance of road worthy certificates.

“How it would work is, any garage authorised by the chief licensing officer and approved by the minister will be allowed to do road worthy inspections for vehicles on the road, except new commercial vehicles, which would obviously have to be done for control purposes at the Barbados Licensing Authority,” he explained.

On how the selection process will work, Gooding-Edghill noted that “when the Road Traffic Act is amended then that would be clearly stated”.

“I’m hoping it will be soon but obviously if you understand the process, it has to go to vetting, come back to the ministry – so there is a process and I don’t want to put a timeline on it. But certainly, what we are trying to do as part of our service improvements is to make some meaningful changes to the Barbados Licensing Authority with the sole objective of improving customer service,” Gooding-Edghill added.

Other improvements expected to come on stream shortly is the change to the age requirements for a medical certificate from 70 to 75 years. This, the minister said, had already received the approval of the Cabinet. In addition, the renewal period for ages 75 to 85 will be moved to two years with a medical certificate being required for every two years and at the age of 85 the renewal period would be one year with an annual medical certificate.

“I have also reviewed critical service improvement steps needed at the BLA with the ministry’s team. The ministry has proposed and the Cabinet has approved a process to simplify the process needed to obtain a Barbados driver’s licence. Customers will be allowed to complete and pass the regulation test and schedule an appointment online for their driving test. The learner will have the option to pay for the learner’s permit and the driving test fee in full or separately and when the leaner passes the driving test, he or she can pay for the requisite years – be it one, three or five years. Barbadians will also shortly have the opportunity to pay for their driver’s licence renewal for up to 10 years when a further amendment to the Road Traffic Act is facilitated,” Gooding-Edghill said.

“The ministry sees this series of upgrades as only the beginning of an ongoing set of steps to make life much better for the different publics we serve. The goal of the ministry is to make engagement with us, and especially the Licensing Authority, free of stress and a comfortable experience to which they can calmly experience as a normal part of life,” he added. (KC)