DVLA Bags Gh¢ 119 Million

By Claude Nyarko Adams

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) recorded an increase in revenue from GH¢45 million in 2016 to GHc119 million as at September 2018, representing a growth of 164.40 per cent.

The Authority further reduced its deficits from 27.50 per cent in 2016 to 6.47 per cent in 2018.

Chief Executive of DVLA, Kwesi Agyeman Busia, said the improvement in revenue was a consequence of the implementation of a two-year business plan, developed last year, to ensure efficiency in operations across the management, regional and district station levels.

This came to light yesterday in Accra when he addressed this year's Strategic Review Conference of the DVLA, on the theme "Continuity of excellent service delivery: For growth, safety and security."

The event, which was attended by the board, management and regional directors, was to review the plans and activities of the Authority in the year, assess current initiatives and streamline all its strategic plans for the future.

In order to sustain the growth and contribute to road safety in the country, Mr Busia said the authority would in 2019 pilot a project to identify, register and regulate more than 300,000 locally manufactured trailers, digitise the transport services system to fully regulate use of private vehicles for commercial activities and activate regulation 123 of Legislative Instrument 2180 which provides for the issuance of commercials vehicle driving permits to commercial drivers,

Mr Busia said the business plan brought about reforms built around technology in the driver training, testing and licensing section to secure and enhance the process of issuing driver's licences, which had been compromised by fraudulent individuals for years.

The DVLA, Mr Busia said would introduce simulators and related services in driver's licence acquisition to ensure new drivers and those renewing theirs have the adequate skills and training to drive safely while an initiative to provide the opportunity for tertiary students to get driver's licences, dubbed TertDrive, would soon be rolled out.

He said that the DVLA upgraded the roadworthy issuance systems to keep it secured and protected and automated the vehicle registration process through the use of smart cards to deal with challenges inherent in the manual system.

In order to increase its reach across the country and deliver effective services to its customers, Mr Busia said the Authority would open modern offices in Wenchi, Cape Coast, Koforidua, Takoradi, Obuasi, Yendi and Nandom.

In a statement read on his behalf, Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, said the transport sector, which was key to government's economic growth agenda, must be well positioned in terms of infrastructure, services and regulations and commended the DVLA for championing innovation to boost their operations.

He said government was concerned about rising road traffic fatalities and casualties, which if not addressed, would adversely affects the movement of goods, services and people.

The minister urged the Authority to continue to find means to curb low levels of driving skills among commercial drivers, poor state of commercial vehicles and freedom of entry and exit, which have contributed to the mirage of problems in transport service delivery.

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