THE Government will be giving up an estimated $180 million in revenue over four years as a result of its new motor vehicle fitness and registration policy, which takes effect later this month.

Transport Minister Daryl Vaz disclosed the figure as he answered a question from Opposition spokesman on Finance Julian Robinson, during Tuesday’s debate in the House of Representatives on a Bill to amend the Road Traffic Act 2018 to give effect to the new policy.

Robinson pointed out that much of the lost revenue would have gone to the Island Traffic Authority (ITA) and queried whether this would be replaced by central Government.

Under the new policy, which was first announced by Prime Minister Andrew Holness in his budget presentation in March, new motor vehicles will now be certified for five years instead of one year. There will also be longer periods of certification for older vehicles.

“It must be emphasised that the measure in this Bill was never intended for revenue enhancement but rather to improve service delivery and to facilitate a shift towards integration of technology and efficient service delivery,” Vaz told the House as he piloted and opened the debate on the Bill.

It amends the Road Traffic Act 2018 and the Road Traffic Regulations 2022. Among its key objectives are to create new periods of validity of the fitness and registration certificate for all categories of motor vehicles and to enhance administrative efficiency.

Concerns were raised by Opposition members that certain vehicles, including public passenger vehicles, may become unfit for the road in a shorter period due to their workload and rough terrain, including bad roads. Vaz sought to assure that the ITA can, at any time during the course of an examination, remove a vehicle from the road if it is not found to meet required standards for operation.

Currently, motorists must renew their certificate of fitness every year. Based on the changes, vehicles three years old and younger will be certified fit for three years while vehicles over three years old will be certified for up to two years.

For used vehicles that are 10 years or less, the validity period will be three years, and for vehicles older than 10 years, the current yearly renewal will remain. In addition, there will be a new two-year renewal option for motor vehicle registration. The new implementation date for the new policy is July 21; the earlier date of July 1 was pushed back to facilitate the necessary legislative and technological changes.

Vaz said the changes “are intended to support the Government of Jamaica’s planned action in streamlining processes for efficiency and economic development”.

“The Bill is being passed to align with the Government’s broader initiative to enhance administrative efficiency and modernise road user management. It primarily resolves inefficiencies associated with a paper-based system and facilitates smoother and more robust inter-agency data sharing,” he added.

“In this regard, the Bill provides for the electronic issuance of fitness and registration certificates. The focus aligns with global trends as physical decals and paper documents are costly, inefficient and on the verge of becoming obsolete,” he continued.

Vaz highlighted that the change benefits motorists by providing longer certificate validity periods, for example, five years for new motor vehicles and reduced renewal costs for operators.