Vehicle importers counting losses as BRTA server damage halts registrations

Reconditioned vehicle importers say they are counting daily losses amounting to Tk30-35 crore as the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) has temporarily halted vehicle registrations as vandals damaged its server during recent protests centring reform in quota system in government job recruitment.

The Bangladesh Reconditioned Vehicles Importers and Dealers Association (Barvida) has requested the BRTA to implement a manual registration process as a stop-gap arrangement.

But the BRTA requested all stakeholders to be patient saying it is working to resolve the issue as early as possible.

The vandals damaged the BRTA headquarters at Banani and its Circle-1 office at Mirpur in the capital. They damaged the server and other electronic devices there. As a result, four types of services, including vehicle registration, and issuance of licence cards and route permits, have remained suspended.

Highlights: TBS

The BRTA has stated that it will take time to resume services, but it cannot specify when it will be operational again. It will take at least a week to assess the extent of the damage, its officials said. The restoration of the main office's electrical system, IT system, and servers will take a considerable amount of time, they said.

Barvida President Md Habib Ullah Dawn told TBS, "We have inspected the BRTA building and informed its chairman that if there are issues with the server, they should arrange for vehicle registrations through a manual process. If the registrations remain halted, businesses are incurring losses of Tk30-35 crore daily."

Due to the inability to register vehicles, importers are facing difficulties in securing the necessary funds to clear cars from the port, as they cannot collect full payments from customers, he said.

"Those who are buying cars make full payments only after the registration is completed. As a result, that money is now indefinitely delayed. We clear the imported cars from the port once we receive the payment from customers, but without the money, we won't be able to clear the imported cars from the port," Dawn said.

He said now they have around 4,000 imported cars at the port. "If we can complete the vehicle registrations and receive the payments, we will be able to clear the cars from the port."

Dawn mentioned that on Sunday, during a meeting in the capital with business leaders from various sectors, Salman F Rahman, the private industry and investment adviser to the prime minister, was informed of the issue.

According to Dawn, they requested the implementation of manual registration. Salman, after hearing their concerns, instructed the commerce minister to discuss the matter with the BRTA chairman. They suggested starting with manual registrations for now and updating the online system once the server is fixed.

Dawn said under normal circumstances, 100 to 120 private vehicles are registered each day. He also mentioned that their investment in the sector amounts to Tk20,000 crore.

Terming the vandalism a big disaster, Md Mahbub-E-Rabbani, director of Road Safety and spokesperson of BRTA, said people have to be patient until the total system is restored and services resume.

BRTA Chairman Gautam Chandra Pal said, "We are working desperately to restore our services. Due to the vandalism, severe damage to our whole electricity line caused a server shutdown. However, our top priority is to repair the power supply line for the server, which we hope to be able to complete by this week."

He added, "Once the server is operational, we will assess its condition and we will make necessary decisions based on the situation."

The BRTA chairman continued, "Until then, we want to assure the public that no driver or vehicle owner will face any harassment due to expired licences. We have already notified law enforcement agencies to favour those who are unable to obtain or renew their licenses right now."