Joey Hew, the minister responsible for the Department of Vehicle and Drivers’ Licensing (DVDL), told the Legislative Assembly during the budget debate last week that over 4,600 people re-licensed and regularized their vehicles. More than 2,500 suspended their licences and more than 820 vehicles were terminated.

The minister also revealed plans to improve services at the department. He said the DVDL dealt with almost 70,000 customers last year but expect to have dealt with around 90,000 by the end of this year. He announced that the Crewe Road office in George Town will be expanded and government will be moving the West Bay licensing office to a much larger site, where the DVDL would also be able to offer car inspections, as the workload at that office had outgrown the space a long time ago.

Hew said the department would be encouraging customers to make use of its online services and confirmed that the new plate licensing system would finally be completed early next year. Hew admitted having technical challenges with the system and explained that delays in replacing plates were as a result of the significant increase in vehicle imports over the last year.

More broadly, he said that tackling traffic problems, especially for Eastern District commuters, was going to a priority for his ministry over the coming two years. A number of short-, medium- and long-term projects were in the works to address this increasing problem, the minister added.

Hew announced that in addition to new road developments, enhancements of existing highways and the start of the East-West Arterial expansion, the mass transportation plan would get underway during this budget period. He said that there would be changes to the roads legislation, which would include a ban on the importation of old vehicles.

He pointed to plans to improve road construction and drainage, as well as the introduction of “complete streets”. The first major enhancement of a road designed for everyone’s use, not just cars, will be the West Bay Road, he said. It will also be introduced in downtown George Town, where their are plans to examine the direction of traffic.

As part of the George Town enhancement project, roads and sidewalks in town will be repaved and reconfigured, and work will soon start to upgrade Heroes Square and plant many more trees around town. He also spoke of the changes to planning regulations to allow for mixed-use developments that will allow the project in George Town to get underway.

Hew said that after much analysis and planning, the physical project would begin next year.