By CHUSA SICHONE –
THE Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) will soon re-introduce its vehicle testing equipment, which stirred uproar amongst motorists when it was introduced some years ago.
RTSA public relations manager Mercy Mwila told the Sunday Times in an interview during the week that the agency had listened to motorists’ concerns thereby indefinitely suspending the use of the vehicle testing equipment.
Motorists viewed the vehicle testing equipment as defective as a majority of the vehicles which had gone through the machine had failed the test.
Ms Mwila said motorists complained that most of the vehicles they imported were second hand and they could not pass the fitness test when the testing equipment’s standards were high, ideal for new vehicles.
“What we have done is we decided to listen to the people and listened exactly to what they were saying in terms of the specifications of the examination of the equipment.
When that equipment was examining a motor vehicle, the specifications were not satisfactory to the road users, especially the motorists,” she said.
“We have reconfigured the parameters so that they are in agreement with the current prevailing situation of our motor vehicles in Zambia,” Ms Mwila said.
Ms Mwila said the equipment would resume operations as soon as the agency got a go-ahead from stakeholders upon them looking at recommendations from consultants and the RTSA expert team.