Thirty four traffic officers drawn from central and mid-western Uganda have undergone training on motor vehicle inspection, carried out by inspection firm SGS Automotive in conjunction with the Ministry of Works and Transport.
The training at the firm’s centre in Kawanda along Bombo Road, attracted officers from Mpigi, Mbarara, Kabale, and Masaka. Others were drawn from Rukungiri, Bushenyi, Ntungamo and surrounding areas.
The training is part of ‘Safe Drive Uganda’ – the mandatory vehicle inspection exercise that started November 2016 in Kampala, which will be rolled out across the country by June 2017.
According to a release, SGS and the Ministry of Works and Transport will work together to make sure the program actively contributes to the enhancement of road safety and the reduction of transport related vehicle emissions.
“The mandatory motor vehicle inspection exercises will help reduce on road carnage in Uganda. We welcome the move by government to have vehicles tested for road worthiness. We are sure the safety of people will improve,” Ronald Amanyire, the Secretary for the National Road Safety Council, said during the training.
He noted that the core objective of the mandatory exercise is to compel motor vehicle owners and drivers to use safe and well maintained vehicles.
During the training Bbale Francis, the Operations Integrity Manager of SGS Automotive Uganda Limited said that vehicles will be subjected to detailed inspections of systems and items, which directly or indirectly influence safety of the owner, passengers and safety of other road users including pedestrians.
The officers were taken through the background and objectives of the project, the whole car inspection process, authenticating a genuine inspection car sticker plus the rules and regulations governing the SGS and Ministry of Works and Transport partnership
Currently, the Kawanda Inspection Centre has the capacity to test 200 vehicles in a single day. The other stations opening soon include Namulanda on Entebbe Road, Nabbingo on Masaka Road, and Namanve on Jinja Road. An additional three stations will be constructed in Gulu, Mbale and Mbarara. Three mobile inspection trucks will also serve areas with sparse vehicle population.
SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company and following an international tender process, the Ministry of Works and Transport awarded SGS Automotive an exclusive contract to design, implement and perform roadworthiness inspections in Uganda.
