RTA to open new licensing centers

The Agency is envisaged to grow into one of the key agencies of the RTA, capable of adding quality service to various clients of the RTA.

In a speech delivered to the annual forum recently organized by RTA Licensing Agency at Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai and attended by directors, managers & employees of the Agency, Ahmed Bahrouzian, CEO of RTA Licensing Agency, stressed the importance of adhering to the corporate values and lifting services to the highest level possible.

He called upon all employees of the Agency to focus on methods of upgrading services to win customer satisfaction, and speed-up processing of transactions to save time & efforts of all customer categories.

"Establishing of Licensing Agency came to light following a detailed study conducted by the RTA on the existing licensing services offered in Dubai compared to the international practices applicable in this regard. The Study analyzed the underlying factors that made those countries establish independent licensing & registration entities" said Bahrouzian. He cited a few examples of practices prevailing in some of the advanced countries in this regard, such as Australia.

"Through establishing Licensing Agency, RTA is seeking to capitalize on a number of benefits; all of which contribute to providing quality services to the community. Beside the prime objective of developing & expanding customer service, other related benefits include increasing the number of customer service employees, testers, supervisors and administrators. New windows will be opened to attract talented and professional cadres, enabling taking important decisions on time; a matter which eventually contributes to better performance and higher level of service offered to the public.

"Upgrading the service level ranks high in the list of priorities & strategies of the new Agency sought in the immediate future. This will be felt in the ground in opening new centers for testing & licensing of drivers & vehicles to ease the pressure on the existing centers, while fully optimizing them. More media and ad campaigns will be launched to introduce the public to all centers so that they can avail services in a wider geographical zone. Currently some centers are heavily visited while others have lower visitor rates; a matter which is traced back to the lack of public awareness of those centers and their services.

"The Agency is cooperating with training institutes to revamp drivers training regimes to boost driving skills. In particular the Agency will seek to cut short the re-testing period when a trainee fails to clear a test. This aims to maintain the trainees driving fitness, noting that the objective of the re-test is to urge trainees to learn more, avoid mistakes and enhance their driving abilities to a level where they will be able to maintain their own safety as well as safety of other road users; all of which lead to realization of the vision of the RTA to provide 'safe & smooth transport for all'.


"During the next phase, there will be a quality shift in services rendered by Licensing Agency including processing some services on line to save time & effort of clients as well as centers. Employees will then be in a position to provide better & quicker services to large number of visitors without delay. There will be more emphasis on analyzing statistical data with a view to identify customer requirements and upgrade the level of services delivered to them" he added.

The CEO of Licensing Agency urged the managerial staff and all employees of the Agency to stick to the corporate values and nurture them through showing full attention to provide top quality services to customers.

They are also required to exhibit patience, self-confidence, transparency, fairness and team spirits.

He highlighted the importance of internal interaction between employees on the one hand, and with customers on the other, to identify customer needs and address them.

"We have to adopt an open-door policy and take appropriate decisions on time in keeping with the policy of the Agency. Employees are called to enjoy performing their jobs, as this attitude makes them at ease and empowers them to discharge their duties in the best possible manner, particularly taking into consideration that licensing business involves dealing with a wide spectrum of customers, and therefore full attention has to be given to serve them" said Bahrouzian in a concluding remark.

Tasks of Licensing Agency, which was established in March this year, include endorsing & licensing driving institutes, qualifying & training driving instructors & testers, and testing & licensing drivers & vehicles.

The Agency is also responsible for endorsing the conditions & guidelines governing training of drivers, controlling vehicle number plates, managing number plate auctions, and upgrading & updating databases of drivers & vehicles.

It also attends to issuing NOCs related to commercial & tourist transport activities, as well as monitoring the performance of institutes, vehicles testers, and commercial transport activities.

The Organizational Chart of the new Agency includes - besides the office of the CEO and Quality, Health, Safety & Environment Section - five departments, namely Drivers Training & Qualifying Dep't, Drivers Licensing Dep't, Vehicle Licensing Dep't, Monitoring & Enforcement Dep't and Commercial Transport Activities Dep't.