Brunei revises vehicle registration, licence renewal procedures

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Brunei's Land Transport Department (JPD) has announced changes to the way vehicles are registered and licences are to be renewed amid a Covid-19 outbreak.

Land transport director Rozaly Saidon told reporters on Monday the JPD has been facilitating new vehicle registrations with the Brunei Automobile Dealers Association (BATA).

“A representative from BATA will submit registration forms and documents through a dropbox at the Ministry of Transport and Infocommunications (MTIC).

“As of Sept 13, the department increased its capacity in vehicle registration from 70 a week to 250,” he said.

The director also announced the re-opening of registration for used vehicles and change in vehicle ownership starting today (Monday).

The director said, “In the first phase, requests have to be made through vehicle agencies according to a quota set by the department.”

The process will involve submission of photos of the vehicles, documents such as bank statement and car insurances by representatives of vehicle agents via dropbox.

Each request will be charged B$5 (around RM16) with payments made online via the BIBD mobile app.

The director said used vehicle inspections are no longer conducted by the JPD but they still need to be checked at Vehicle Inspection Services (VIS) centres, which include Bayu Ilham, Bengkel Kereta Berakas Sdn Bhd (BKB), JYM Sdn Bhd in Kuala Belait and B-TOP for motorcycles.

After the submission at the dropbox, Notice of Inspections (NOI) will be sent by the JPD via e-mail.

“Those interested in using suspended vehicle registration numbers can submit their request and relevant documents via the dropbox. No walk-in services are available during this phase,” he said.

On delays of vehicle licence (VL) and driving licence (DL) renewals, the director said online portal GOVBN, TransportBN and Darussalam line 123 (TD123) have received over 1,000 requests per day.

“Between Aug 1 and Sept 19, 38,467 requests and 24,872 texts were sent to applicants,” Rozaly said.

He added that JPD has a backlog of 4,718 requests from applicants.

According to the director, the JPD received 1,353 requests for licence renewals (VL and DL) from Aug 1 to Sept 19, 2021, while 1,217 texts were sent to successful applicants, 717 licences sent through mail and 445 collected from post offices.

“However, there are applications which cannot be processed. Some 136 requests via SMS could not be processed as applicants failed to include relevant information, 87 applicants failed to include their mobile phone numbers, 44 applicants only included their home phone numbers and five applicants submitted wrong mobile phone numbers,” said the director.

JPD said a confirmation SMS will be sent three days after the payment has been made and applicants can collect their licences at post offices or via mail after seven to 14 days.

Applicants are encouraged to make payment online through the TransportBN app or online portal www.gov.bn using debit or credit card.

The director reminded the public to show proof of their renewal when collecting their licences by showing a receipt or SMS confirmation. —Borneo Bulletin