Owners of vehicles in Rubavu and neighbouring districts no longer have to commute to Kigali to have their automobiles inspected as the Mobile mechanical inspection test lane shifts its services to the Western Province.

According to the Commanding Officer of the Motor Vehicle Inspection Directorate, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Emmanuel Kalinda, the Mobile Test Lane will be stationed in Rubavu effective September 4.

"The mobile test lane rotates in different provinces as part of Rwanda National Police’s programme to bring services closer to the people. This time, it will be stationed in Rubavu for ten days to serve vehicles in and around the district,” CSP Kalinda said.

"We request people to exploit this opportunity and bring their vehicles for inspection to ensure that they are roadworthy,” he added.

The mobile test Lane supports other mechanical inspection centres to serve car owners residing far in the countryside, who previously braved long distances to Kigali to have their vehicles inspected.

According to CSP Kalinda, the Mobile Test Lane has the capacity to inspect up to 100 vehicles per day.

"The western province has many business vehicles and as you know, commercial vehicles are inspected every six months; and driving to Kigali becomes a bit costly. This is why we opt to take the mobile mechanical inspection services to such far places,” he noted.

Rwanda National Police started its vehicle inspection services in 2008 when the first two lanes were established at Remera MIC with the capacity to inspect only 150 vehicles per day.

Currently, with three lanes Remera MIC, Mobile Test Lane and one lane at Police Training School (PTS) Gishari in Rwamagana District to serve the Eastern Province, the inspections have increased to about 800 daily.

Last year, for example, inspections increased by about 27 percent to 96, 283, up from 75, 839 inspections in 2014.

In this year’s first six months alone, a total of 152,778 vehicles have been inspected, according to statistics from the centre.

RNP plans to have the two new lanes fully functional by November at Remera MIC and establish others in regions, to service the increasing number of automobiles in the country.

The centres also service foreign registered vehicles, whose owners want to check and keep the status of their automobiles.

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