The Takoradi regional office of the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA) registered a total of 488 vehicles in the first 10 working days of 2020.
The number is 90 vehicles more than what the office registered in the same period in 2019.
On January 2, when the Takoradi regional DVLA office officially commenced the registration of vehicles for 2020, it registered 104 compared to the 74 it registered in 2019.
The number dropped to 97 the following day and further dropped to 66 on the third day of registration.
Nevertheless, the performance for the first three days was better, compared to that of 2019.
But on January 14 and 15 the registration was lower than what was registered in 2019.
Regional Manager Emmanuel Narh explained the drop was due to challenges they had with their online registration system.
“This time DVLA, we do more online. We use the network to do our businesses more than the manual. At first, we were using the manual about 90 percent for our activities. But this time, we are doing the opposite where we use the internet for about 90 percent of our activities. So, we were having challenges with our system.”
He described as worrying instances where car owners will wait for several months before acquiring a number plate at the beginning of a new year only because they want a new number plate.
Mr. Narh stated that practice brings undue pressure at the beginning of each year.
Nevertheless, he said his office has instituted pragmatic measures to make the registration less cumbersome.
“We have our vehicular licensing and related activities at its peak in the first and second quarters. But at the end of the third to four quarter we don’t get people coming to register. What we have seen is that people buy cars and hold on so that they will get the new number that will be introduced the following year.”
He announced that authority has been given to the Tarkwa office for it to commence vehicle registration.
“Our Tarkwa office was not registering vehicles. But I did advocate and lobbied through the headquarters for them to also start registering vehicles so that it will reduce the pressure on us. I believe it will also enhance our service delivery to the general public and also the hassle that one will have to drive his new vehicle to cover all the distance from Axim and its environs, Tarkwa to Takoradi before having it registered. So, the Tarkwa office has started,” Mr. Narh announced.
By Eric Yaw Adjei|3news.com|Ghana