Kuala Lumpur: The Transport Ministry (MOT) will announce several new companies that will be approved to open new Motor Vehicle Inspection Centres (PPKM) tomorrow, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said. He stated that this development follows the government’s decision last year to discontinue the exclusivity of the Computerised Vehicle Inspection Centre (Puspakom) as the sole provider of such services.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, this move aims to foster competition among service providers, which is expected to enhance the quality of vehicle inspections and ensure the integrity of the inspection process. Loke made these remarks during a question and answer session in the Dewan Rakyat, responding to a query from Syahredzan Johan (PH-Bangi) regarding the potential impact of the long-standing monopoly on service quality and possible collusion to approve unsafe vehicles.

Loke further elaborated that the evaluation process for the new applications has been concluded, which involved a compliance check against established criteria including financial capacity and the capability to perform motor vehicle inspections on behalf of the Road Transport Department (JPJ). He clarified that Puspakom now operates under a license, rather than a concession, to conduct vehicle inspections.

While addressing concerns about potential syndicate activities and corruption, Loke refrained from directly linking these issues to the previous monopoly policy. He emphasized the general concern that monopolies can sometimes impact service quality adversely, hence the push for competition in the industry.