A team of eight tech experts under the Technology & Innovation Institute have developed an online system to process special permits for private vehicles to be used daily during the state of emergency. The system is designed to eliminate the necessity of individuals travelling to the Federal Transport Authority offices.

The team started developing the online special pass permission system after the Ministry of Transport issued a directive that limits the use of private cars for five months. The directive followed the state of emergency decree that put many restrictions on public life to limit the spread of COVID-19. The authorities claim that the goal of the directive is to reduce the traffic on the roads and encourage people to stay at home.

Beginning April 18, the directive permits private vehicles to be used only every other day. Cars with an even digit at the end of their license plate may drive on one day, those with an odd digit at the end of their license plate may drive the next day.

But it gave an exception for media and health professionals, religious leaders and people with disabilities as well as those involved in government-sponsored projects to prevent the pandemic to drive their cars after obtaining a special pass from the Authority.

The system, which is monitored and regulated by the Federal Transport Authority, became operational on May 8, 2020. Eligible applicants can put the vehicle title certificate book, organisation ID, and a support letter from where they work on the system. The Authority claims it takes a day to file and approve their applications. Using their user name and password, applicants can follow the status of their application.

The platform aims to reduce social gatherings, control illegality, and to be transparent during the application process, according to Selman Mohammed, director for the information systems & infrastructure division at the Institute.

Out of the total registered 613,638 vehicles in the capital, a third of them, or 218,028, have a code 02 private license plate.

The Authority is currently transferring the manually filed applications into the new online system, according to Abdulber Shemsu, deputy director at the Authority in charge of the transport sector.

Before taking the application process online, the Authority was providing temporary permits that worked for nine days. Now, those who wish to extend those permits have to apply for a replacement online. Even though the Authority says that it only takes a day to process the license, the system has not been responding for over a week.

"It takes more than a day when there are backlogged files under review," said Abdulber.