by Linda Straker
- Licencing and Inspection Authority for vehicles to be re-assigned to Grenada Transport Commission
- Due to shortage of police officers, Government will be assigning several duties to civilians
- Bus terminals currently under Grenada Ports Authority will also be reassigned to Transport Commission
Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has announced that his administration will be removing the Commissioner of Police as the Licencing and Inspection Authority for vehicles in Grenada and will be re-assigning that authority to the Grenada Transport Commission.
“The Commissioner of Police shall be the Licencing Authority and shall as such be charged with responsibility for the registration, licencing and inspection of all motor vehicles, the issue of driving licences, and such other matters as are assigned to him or her by this Act or any regulations made here under,” states Section 4 of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act.
However, in a news conference on 7 April, Prime Minister Mitchell who is also responsible for transportation said that there is a shortage of police officers, and the Government will be assigning several duties that are done by the law enforcement officers to civilians.
“We intend to migrate the licencing and inspection of motor vehicles which are currently handled by the Royal Grenada Police Force, under the Transport Commission. We are already short staffed of police officers, and we need them to be engaged them in matters that are proper policing and anything that can be handled by civilian authorities we will so do,” said Mitchell.
“So, for the inspection and licencing of vehicles we intend to transfer that to the transport commission and that is one of the strategic things that we will do in the next 12 months,” said the Prime Minister. He also announced that the bus terminals that are currently under the responsibility of the Grenada Ports Authority will also be reassigned to Transport Commission.
In November 2020, Members of Parliament in both the Upper and Lower House approved the legislation to establish the Transport Commission. According to the legislation, the Commission shall advise the Minister for Transport on all matters pertaining to road transport and traffic including:
- transport rates, fares, tolls, dues or other charges
- licence duties and fees in respect of motor and other vehicles
- the needs of any area or areas in relation to transport (including the provision of adequate, suitable and efficient services and the elimination of unnecessary or unremunerative services) and the coordination of all forms of passenger and goods transport
- road safety
- the regulation and control of traffic
- regulating road transport
- standards to be prescribed for vehicles to be used in public, commercial and private transportation
- regulation of public transport infrastructure, including car park facilities, terminal facilities, bus stops and roundabout facilities
- measures for controlling public, private and commercial transportation and establishing conditions under which they may operate; and
- any other matter affecting traffic or transport that the Minister may refer to the Grenada Transport Commission
Well done PM. This process should have been implemented at least eight years ago. In Grenada we cannot continue with “same old” waybof doing things. We need to be more progressive and transformational in our thinking. A big thumbs up.
Wow a very bold move…. Journalist Linda is always on top of her game… kudos