New vehicle inspection center ready in September

TIRANA, August 16 – SGS Automotive Albania, part of the Switzerland-based SGS group, is building a new vehicle inspection centre outside Tirana which will be made available starting from September 6, Transport Minister Sokol Olldashi announced last weekend.
The company which was awarded a 10-year concessionary contract on vehicle inspection service in September 2009, says the test centre located in Preza village, in a facility of 7,145 m2, is an investment of USD 3 million. The test centres will have six inspection lanes, of which two for trucks.
Speaking during his visit to the facility under reconstruction, minister Olldashi said “the new centre will be ready to start operation on September 6 and bring a crucial change of quality and procedures for customers in order to make the time they spend on the vehicle compulsory inspection as short as possible and offer the best service.”
The SGS concessionary has already exceeded its investment goals which to date are worth 670 million lek (6.7 million dollars), up from 560 million lek in their winning bid.
“Some 31 new vehicle technical control lanes are being set up all over Albania and within a short time will offer citizens a quality, transparent and completely computerized service so that technical control switches from an annoying and often corruptive procedure to a really routine and technological procedure in which citizens are served and not tortured,” said Olldashi as quoted in a statement by the ministry.
In September 2009, the Albanian Transport Ministry signed and awarded the 10-year Vehicle Inspection Service contract to SGS SA. This contract, awarded following a competitive tender process, will see the continued operation of the existing 14 Test Centres in Albania along with the construction of a new 6 lane Test Centre in Tirana.
This contract will make the upgrading of all existing equipment in each of the 14 Test Centres to bring them in line with European Testing Standards. All existing staff was transfered over to the new contract in November and trained on new testing equipment and procedures. The inspection equipment used by SGS in Albania is computer controlled and highly automated to ensure maximum test security and accuracy.
It is anticipated that SGS will inspect a total of 250,000 vehicles in the first year of testing in Albania, where all private vehicles are inspected once a year with public vehicles undergoing the inspection twice a year.