KATHMANDU, NOV 04 - The Department of Transport Management (DoTM) plans to issue licenses and blue books to vehicle owners based on smart card technology in seven months as part of its digitisation initiative.
The DoTM expects to conduct this move with a grant assistance from the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) Information and Communication Technol-ogy project.
"The ADB has assured us that it will provide the required equipment and software within seven months," said Sharad Chandra Poudel, director general of the DoTM. "This new service will be available in all the transport offices across the country."
According to the DoTM, the improvement will help provide the general public quality service while issuing driving licenses and blue books. Moreover, this will help maintain scientific records of the licence holders and vehicle owners. "Especially, it will also help to discourage the issuance of fake licenses," said Poudel.
The DoTM aims to digitise all its offices by mid-2010 with the grant assistance from the ADB. Poudel added that the DoTM was planning to expand its service by setting up two additional offices -- one at Sallaghari, Bhaktapur and another somewhere between Balaju and Swayambhu.
"We have already demanded the budget from the Ministry of Finance for the expansion of service," said Poudel. "As soon as we get the budget, we will start recruiting new staff."
After the expansion of the service, the public can go to any of the three offices in the valley for transport related services such as vehicle test, renewal, registration, tax payment and so forth. "This is a plan to provide the same service from different places," said Poudel.
The DoTM has decided to take motorbike driving trials at the Sajha premises at Pulchok, Lalitpur from Sunday. However, driving tests will be conducted at the premises of Salt Trading Corporation at Singh Durbar.
DoTM said that the Salt Trading compound was not large enough to conduct trials for four-wheelers and two-wheelers and that the location was too crowded most of the time.
http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2009/11/04/Business/Digital-licenses-blue-books-planned/1674/index.htmlIn dotm.gov.np. Vehicle and Transportation Policies 2054 link is broken