KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday said that deaths in many road accidents were caused by decrepit vehicles.
“Most of the road accidents happen because of mechanically unfit vehicles. This is one of the key issues the Sindh government aims to resolve whilst establishing modernized vehicle inspection and certification system for all types of vehicles in the province,” he said while addressing the signing ceremony of Concession Agreement signed between Sindh Transport Department and a Swedish firm, Opus Inspection for Vehicle Inspection & certification System (VICS) here at the CM House.
The ceremony was attended by Chief Secretary Rizwan Memon, Chairman P&D Muhammed Waseem, Principal Secretary to CM Sohail Rajput, Secretary Finance Hassan Naqvi, representatives of the Swedish company and other officials.
Murad said that presently, there were around 4.78 million vehicles, including 2.98 million motorcycles registered in Sindh.
“The presence of unfit vehicles on roads is not only causing environmental pollution but also causing road accident,” he said.
The chief minister said the sole purpose of the project was to ensure the safety of people as the death in many road accidents were caused by decrepit vehicles.
He added that under the project the well-equipped Motor Vehicle Inspection (MVI) Centers would be established in fixed as well as mobile form at divisional or district levels to ensure the soundness of vehicles.
“Under the scope of the project, the commercial vehicles of all ages and other vehicles having a life of more than 5 years would have to get fitness certificate from MVI wing through scientific inspection,” he said.
It may be noted that the system is being introduced with the cooperation of Swedish company, Opus International, for the safety of road users which would be extended to the whole province and the MVI centers would be established across Sindh to improve road safety.
Minister Transport Syed Nasir Shah in his speech said, “the underlying scope of the project is to inspect all the vehicles in compliance to the international standards and specification of vehicle testing in a uniform manner.”
He said that the move would certainly help avert road accidents which were caused by vehicles not fit for roads, annually claiming thousands of lives in the province. He said under VICS, 17 stations, including seven in Karachi would be set up in the province.
Talking about the benefits of the VICS project, Nasir Shah said it would reduce fatalities and traffic related injuries due to mechanical failure of Public Service Vehicles.
“It would reduce Noise pollution through controlled proactive vehicle inspections. It is bound to promote green environment by controlling vehicular emissions. The project would Improve service delivery and transparency in vehicle inspections and it would Increase citizen confidence in the transportation infrastructure and develop employment opportunities,” he said.
The CM Sindh said that the government was sincere in its efforts to preserve not only the environment but also lives of the people. The VICS project will be a revolutionary step in the field of Road Safety and Environment protection which is a key issue for today’s world, he said.
The concession agreement was signed by provincial Secretary Transport Abdul Raheem Soomro and Vice President of Opus James E Stand.
