LUSAKA, 20th June 2021 – The Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) has escalated its initiative to decentralize its services to underserved Regions, especially Rural Districts.
The RTSA Director and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Gladwell Banda has disclosed that the Agency has in the last 10 months devolved some of its road licensing functions such as payment of road tax and motor vehicle road worthiness to 11 Local Authorities across the Country.
Mr. Banda, said the RTSA is leveraging the presence and role of local government authorities to provide a wide reach and reduce the burden and cost of citizens accessing RTSA services.
“This initiative is meant to extend our footprint to districts without the RTSA presence. We have commissioned selected RTSA services over the last 10 months to 11 districts namely; Lundazi, Nyimba, Mbala, Mwense, Kafue, Luangwa and Mumbwa. Others are Kapiri Mposhi, Mwinilunga, Kabompo and Kasempa. The RTSA will target to cover more underserved regions, and during this period we also opened three RTSA offices in Petauke, Serenje and Mokambo Border,” he said.
And Kasempa District Commissioner Mr. Philospher Chandamali has hailed the RTSA and Government for taking the services closer to the people.
The trajectory of the decentralization programme is underpinned under the National Transport Policy through the Ministry of Transport and Communications which is in line with the Government’s Seventh National Development Plans (7NDP) and the Vision 2030 which is a long term plan that expresses the aspirations of the Zambian people to live in a dynamic and middle-income industrial nation that provides the well-being of all by harnessing opportunities for economic growth.