Visakhapatnam to get automated centre for assessing vehicle fitness

Andhra Pradesh – An Automated Inspection and Certification Centre (AICC) for assessing the fitness of transport vehicles will be set up in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The centre will be the first-of-its-kind in the state and is 100% operational in Germany, China, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Pune-based Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) will provide technical support to the state government to set up the centre. ARAI has extended technical support to transport departments at Pune, Cochin, Nasik and Surat.

The main objective of AICC is to clamp down on the problems of pollution and road accidents due to mechanical failures besides preventing corruption in the transport department is issuing fitness certificates to school buses, trucks, buses, contract carriers, bikes and cars among other vehicles.

At present, the fitness test of a motor vehicle by the Road Transport Authority (RTA) is visual and a group of transport officers are required to physically check every parameter of the vehicle to issue a non-objection certificate regarding the vehicle’s fitness. The prescribed tests are more of a routine nature and in most cases do not constitute any meaningful exercise, say RTA officials.

In future, the AICC centres will serve as technical centres for testing the condition of transport vehicles. Manpower will not be required any longer for inspecting the vehicles for fitness.

The government is searching for a suitable private player like Maruti Suzuki, Mahendra and Hyundai to set up the centre on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis. The state government's role is to come up with suitable land whereas the private player will have to set up the equipment, which will have to be imported as it is not available in the country. The certification centre will operate under the RTA.

S Venkateswara Rao, RTA, Visakhapatnam’s regional deputy transport officer said the state government is willing to set up the automated centre in Vizag apart from three other places.

“We have sufficient land for the project at Rajapulova, which is a common point for Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts. A single unit costs Rs 5 crore. We are searching for a suitable private player,” Rao added.

Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) is co-operative industrial research association by the automotive industry with the Ministry of Industries, Government of India.

Build–operate–transfer (BOT) is a form of project financing, wherein a private entity receives a concession from the private or public sector to finance, design, construct, own, and operate a facility stated in the concession contract.