Vehicles to be inspected before entering PNG

By SERAH LAGDOM
AN international company has been engaged to provide inspection services on behalf of the Road Traffic Authority (RTA) at international ports, before vehicles are shipped to Papua New Guinea, an official says.
RTA Licencing and Registration manager Wilson Wariaka said the company, Japan Export Vehicle Inspection Centre (JEVIC) was contracted to provide inspection services at the ports of the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan and New Zealand.
He said inspections in the four countries would commence in November 2018 and by Jan 2019, any motor vehicle entering the country must have and inspection sticker from JEVIC.
“Those vehicles imported from other countries will then need to be inspected by an inspection agent in PNG.
“RTA has a Vehicle Roadworthiness Inspection Manual which provides the guidelines on the inspection and testing at Authorised Inspection Stations.
The updated (amended) Rule will be made effective on Jan 1, 2019.
“The vehicle standards and compliance rule also will be used to control the quality of used vehicles imported to PNG,” Wariaka said.
He said to ensure that motor vehicles entering PNG met the standards, RTA should conduct thorough checks on them.
“There are two aspects to this. The first, ensuring that vehicles imported from the four countries mentioned have an authorised sticker and certificate as evidence of the offshore inspection. Any vehicle imported from these countries without the inspection sticker will not be allowed to be registered in PNG.
“The second aspect is the vehicles that are imported from countries other than the four above must be inspected and tested first before they are registered.
This inspection is different from the normal road worthiness certification. An inspection agent will be nominated by RTA to provide this inspection on RTA’s behalf.
“Therefore RTA is in talks with PNG Customs to have a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enforce all these at the ports of entry.” Wariaka said.
He said an Authorised Inspection Station was supposed to do a thorough inspection and also testing on the roadworthiness of the motor vehicles
before a safety sticker was issued.
“A safety sticker will then be issued when the motor vehicle has passed the inspection after conducting tests,” Wariaka said. RTA now intends to review all Authorised Inspection Stations
in the country so that they have the required equipment and personnel, and also to enable the RTA to monitor their performance.
“The vehicle standards and compliance rule has been revised and updated. This sets out the requirements for vehicles to be in a roadworthy condition.
“Authorised Inspection Stations have always been the place to get a safety sticker for motor vehicles. This will continue with RTA. However, the practice has been that safety stickers were given in exchange for money which defeats the purpose for which the AIS licenses are granted,” he said.
Wariaka said motor car dealers were governed under the Motor Car Dealers Act 1976. Previously, the National Land Transport Board (NLTB) was the authority providing oversight on the same.
He said an amendment was done to the Act in early 2017 to replace the NLTB to the RTA Board.
“Therefore this Act is now administered by RTA, which is now issuing licenses to Motor Car Dealers (both used and new car dealers).
“RTA already has a vehicle import guideline developed and will be uploaded in the website. All processes and requirements such as age and related vehicle standards are inthe guideline,” Wariaka said.