Regional Directorate of Road Transport Services in the north-western district of Shkodra will be transformed into a model of service delivery centre soon. The work to construct the new building, which will house the Regional Directorate, is heading towards completion, thanks to an investment project designed to turn it into the largest regional directorate in the country’s north, offering decent working conditions and spaces for the workers and citizens who apply for services at this institution. Prime Minister Edi Rama described the project as a transformative change as he inspected the construction together with the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku, and the General Director of the Road Transport Service, Blendi Gonxhe.

The investment will eliminate the flood risk in previously‐flooded building, as well as it will radically transform quality of services offered at this institution, which  delivers around 133.000 services a year to motorists. “We inherited a grave situation in the Regional Directorate, as it was housed in a rented building, which lacked sufficient space to deliver required services to the citizens, or conduct the annual technical inspection of cars. The work to construct the new building is expected to complete very soon and in addition to the brand new offices that will meet the required standards for service delivery, we are working to provide also the online services delivered by the General Directorate of the Road Transport,” Infrastructure and Energy Minister Balluku said.

The project ensures reconstruction and computerization of the entire building, increases parking capacity, the room for the driving theory test that features elements of overseeing and testing, and improves the physical car inspection that was done on the road previously.

This Directorate’s goal is to move towards provision of the highest number possible of the online services. Around 30.000 online services have been delivered to the citizens in the first six months of this year only. “This is crucially important as it totally transforms the state-citizen relation. A lot is being constantly speculated about public administration, corruption, but in its very essence this is a serious problem we inherit in the public delivery system, where the direct relation between the citizen and the administration takes place and we are transforming this relation. Once we go online, we actually gain an extraordinary advantage in the fight against bribery and corruption and in this way we remove any obstacles to the citizens, whose applications previously depended on the will of the public administration workers, telling them to report at their offices again tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. This is not the case with the computer and the online system. Certainly, a lot of work is needed to improve conduct and enhance capacities of the people behind the computer, so that they provide real time replies, react quickly, but this process may take some more time. However, the very essence is that the previous building was a mess where nobody knew for sure whether they were to be delivered the service they had applied for, should they were not to pay a bribery in advance. The situation is completely different today. I am not claiming such a phenomenon has been completely, 100% eliminated, because I can’t pretend for this to be the case neither here nor elsewhere, yet the situation is completely different now. Today it just takes switching on your smart phone, file an application and a reply is provided promptly. Another considerable part of public services will add to an already very high number of online services by December and corruption will be definitely reduced significantly in every public administration institutions tasked with public service delivery,” PM Rama said.

The investment includes a brand new electric and IT network. Likewise, the project includes structural  re-branding and unification of the facade’s structural cladding in compliance with the new image of DRTS. “It’s very significant that the DP-orchestrated attacks against the Road Transport Directorate focus on what they call investments in luxury and facades, because for them it is a luxury to provide workers with decent conditions at their workplace. But beyond the facade, in terms of the physical look of the building, this is a very important part of the work to deliver decent services,” the Premier said, adding that “the real change isn’t the visible one, but the content of the work as we are moving public services into a completely digital and impersonal system, to make sure that the citizens have to deal with the institution and not an individual, who tells them come over again tomorrow, since I have an headache today. Moreover, such a directorate, which, for the sake of truth, plays an important role in the physical security of the people, can no longer continue issuing the driving licenses like the Socialist Movement for Integration used to provide the party membership documents. When this institution was headed by a SMI representative, the driving licenses were granted just like the party membership certificate in exchange of a vote for the SMI.”