Doha - The Qatar Technical Inspection Co (QTIC) is currently conducting a study aimed at establishing standards for automobile workshops operating in the country, an Arabic daily quoting Dr Khalid bin Jabor Al Thani, Member of Board, QTIC, said. A group of 20 such workshops that offer assorted services and capabilities, he said, had been selected to participate in this study.
These workshops, along with the QTIC, will study the human and technical aspects of such facilities and propose certain specifications and standards to the Ministry of Municipal Affair and Agriculture. He said, several automobile repair workshops operating in the country currently do not have even the basic equipment or qualified technicians. The QTIC, he said, had submitted a proposal to the MMAA through the Traffic and Patrol Department on the necessity of such standards for workshops. Once the current study is completed, workshops will be categorised according to their technical capabilities and specialties. This categories will then be graded further for licensing purposes.
Vehicle owners trying to circumvent the mandatory technical inspection of their automobiles, due for the annual road permit, he said, was an old phenomenon. "Though there are efforts to reduce this problem, it continues to persist," he lamented.
The Traffic and Patrol Department, in its capacity as the law enforcement agency and the QTIC with it technical expertise, was trying to find ways and means to reduce the incidence of vehicle owners trying to circumvent the roadworthiness tests of their cars.
Intensified patrolling of streets to detect and penalise vehicles with expired road permits or those that are not roadworthy, he said, had resulted in several violators being nabbed. " The QTIC had allotted four vehicles to the Traffic and Patrol Department for this purpose," he revealed. The QTIC, on its part, was conducting awareness campaigns highlighting the importance of safe vehicles. The company had also taken steps to expedite vehicle testing and other services, to make them more convenient to car owners, he added.
The QTIC will also assist the traffic department in patrolling streets at various times in different places. A comprehensive plan has been drawn by the traffic department for such patrolling and vehicles that are suspected of being technically unfit to be on the roads, will be seized and subjected to checks, even though its road permit may be valid. "This will offer the owner an opportunity to conduct any repairs beforehand. This move is aimed at reducing the incidence of car owners borrowing spares from their friends and relatives such as tires, simply for the technical inspection," he added.
The Traffic and Patrol Department recently had issued a new rule by which car owners seeking a new registration number, have to compulsorily undergo vehicle testing and other procedures similar to renewal of the annual road permit. "This in itself will help reduce the number of motorists who try to escape technical inspection of their cars," he noted.
© The Peninsula 2006
