THE Senate on Thursday approves a bill which seeks to facilitate the privatisation of the Motor Vehicle Inspection Services, now under the control of the island Traffic Authority.

Senator Burchell Whiteman, leader of government business, who piloted the Bill, ‘An Act to Amend the Road Traffic Act’, said under the current provisions of the act, the authority could only delegate its function to public servants.

The objective of privatising the authority, he said, is to have in place an efficiently operated and managed system to ensure the safety of citizens, visitors and their property and to improve the quality of service to motorists.

This is to be achieved by ensuring that all vehicles that enter the country and use the roads are accurately accounted for in a sufficiently informed data base to be maintained jointly by the Island Revenue Department and the privatised service, the senate leader said .

Opposition senator, Anthony Johnson, supported the bill, describing the provisions as some “critical and useful interventions”.

However, he questioned what would be the charge for having annual inspections. “Fees now are relatively reasonable and not onerous. When it is privatised, will the cost be at the same level or will they fix their own charge?” he queried.

He said, too, that members of staff at road traffic inspection facilities have not been increased, and that there was a problem with the capacity of the depots to inspect motor vehicles.

“I welcome the act, but I want to ensure that the inspections are not onerous. This is something that is very necessary. It has got so bad that insurance companies are no longer accepting Government inspections, they are sending you to a private company,” said Johnson.

Senator Whiteman assured the Senate that the cost of the service would not be fixed without the minister’s approval.