Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan has promised to root out corrupt elements within T&T's licensing offices who are holding citizens to ransom and indulging in unethical practices.
Faced with complaints from the public about bribes being demanded by licensing workers to fast-track services, Sinanan said he was facing a lot of "push back" from some quarters who were benefiting financially from such exercises.
Sinanan came on the eve of the opening of the almost fully-computerised $250 million Licensing Division headquarters at Caroni.
The facility will provide services ranging from inspection of vehicles, renewals and issuance of driver's permits to driving tests, registration of foreign-used vehicles and transfers of ownership of a vehicle.
Staff from the Chaguanas office were relocated to the building over the weekend and it will be open for business from today.
Over the last two decades several attemtpts have been made to improve the efficiency of the Licensing Division and root out corrupt elements.
Sinanan said the public could expect a shorter waiting time, a smoother flow at the cashiers and excellent customer service at the new facility.
During a visit at the headquarters on Friday, some of its 200 workers were tying up loose ends at the three-storey building, while Transport Commissioner Wayne Richards and Assistant Transport Commissioner Jivan Supersad were viewing operations of rotary lifts and pits at its inspection centre.
The lobby area has a seating capacity of 210, a doctor's office and an area for the differently-abled. A batch of 35 employees was being refreshed on good customer service. The car park can accommodate 287 vehicles.
On a daily basis, the headquarters which has 12 departments, will be able to deal with 2,000 transactions.
"We want the staff to adopt a new culture change where they would treat the public who use the facility in a manner that is welcoming," Sinanan said.
At one licensing office, Sinanan said he was surprised to see employees searching through books to obtain information for issuance of a taxi badge.
Sinanan said he also wanted to establish an online service in the coming months.
Questioned how he intends to weed out employees who have been accused of taking bribes for services, Sinanan said although he had no proof to substantiate these claims, complaints were reaching his desk.
"Only this morning someone called me to say they paid $2,000 to get two vehicles registered. If this is true, I am very concerned about that. It's time the population stop encouraging this."
Hours later, Sinanan said he received another complaint from a person who went to renew their license and discover that someone else had the same permit number as theirs.
"It was an illegal permit...because of the manual system that is used at the other offices this is what opens up and leaves room for unethical practices."
Since being appointed, Sinanan said he has been facing resistance from people who want the system to remain the same.
"There are a lot of people who keep telling me this and that cannot work because they want the system to remain the same for their benefit. I am going to change that."
He said the new computerised system will serve as a stop-gap measure. It is just a small group in there who are holding the population to ransom and we need to find a way to get them out. You would be surprised to hear how much complaints that I am getting...why I am interfering in this and that...and things are working perfectly. It is working perfect for some people, but not in the interest of the population."
Sinanan refused to say if he would institute sting operations to catch workers in the act.
"If you want to get a certified copy they will tell you the machine is down and you have to come back in a few days. If you need it urgently you would not mind paying to get it done."
He said the same problem exists with inspection of vehicles.
Richards in response to Sinanan's claims admitted there were duplication of some driver's permit numbers as a result of human error.
"The same numbers were sent to different offices. We were aware over the years there were duplication of numbers. And we did everything to rectify that. Some people were given new numbers."
With its computerised system which has a centralised data base, Richards said such things would not happen again.
Responding to allegations that the public were paying employees to have their vehicles registered, Richards said because of its manual numbering system "the citizenry tend to not want the dregs numbers coming down to the end. They want to wait on the new series."
At its San Fernando office, Richards said the public paid for over 400 vehicle registration numbers "in cash."
Richard said changes are being made to negate corrupt practices.
"At this facility we will be dealing with the customers all the time. No touts would be able to come here on anyone's behalf. We will be knocking out these things brick by brick. It is a humongous task to rebrand a whole divsion overnight...40 years to degradation... when the whole world is computerised we now trying to play catch-up."
Questioned if the public should desist from paying to speed up a service, Richards said "I would say I want to lock up the public because the public is looking to corrupt my officers."