People wait in a line outside a closed petrol station, in Hamra, Beirut, on Aug. 20, 2021. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP file photo)
BEIRUT — Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi signed a government circular on Aug. 16 announcing vehicle registration centers will start issuing driver’s licenses again through an altered process, after almost two years of no new licenses being handed out. A senior source from the Vehicle Registration Office (the Nafaa), told L’Orient Today on Wednesday that the new process involves making driving lessons mandatory for those applying for a license.
A source at the Interior Ministry confirmed that the decision signed by Mawlawi puts into motion the new procedure by establishing a new committee tasked with designing the updated driving test.
The Nafaa centers initially shut down in 2022 following the mass arrest of around 80 employees on corruption charges. Although they reopened in September 2023, they have yet to resume issuing new driver’s licenses.
The senior Nafaa source said that the decision signed by Mawlawi will also require applicants to take mandatory driving lessons at certified driving schools before taking their driving tests. Previously, applicants only needed to submit their paperwork and pass the test without undergoing any formal lessons.
The source added that 200 out of 248 "private driving offices" have passed the certification test, making them eligible to approve a client's driving skills before the test. They also noted that this new system is aligned with the traffic law approved in 2012, which was never fully implemented. Issuing new driving licenses could begin as early as next month.
The 2012 traffic law stipulates that owners of driving schools must undergo training courses at the Internal Security Forces Institute in order to be knowledgeable in the mechanisms of the law and to be updated on the new driving test's parameters. Following these training sessions, the examination committees, driving test locations, and the examination schedule would be established.
Hussein Haidar, the head of the syndicate of the private driving offices, said the Nafaa centers are currently renewing existing driver’s licenses and registering vehicles based on appointments made through an online platform, but that new license applications are still on hold. In early June, state-run media reported that Nafaa centers were also starting to issue licenses to drivers who had passed the necessary exams in 2022. The centers are now open only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
240,000 driving licenses stalled
The approval process remains stalled for an estimated 240,000 (the number of people who turned 18 during the time of closure) potential driver’s licenses due to the ongoing — albeit partial — closure of Lebanon's vehicle registration centers, according to the Nafaa source.
Haidar claimed that the center is now nearly fully operational, as the suspended employees have been replaced by other civil workers and security officers (there has been a ban on hiring new public servants since 2017). He attributed the centers' partial closure not to a lack of staff but to the ongoing process of transforming the private companies that offer driving lessons into certified driving schools. The Nafaa source confirmed Haidar’s claim.
Ziad Akl, founder of Youth Association for Safety Awareness (YASA), an NGO specializing in road safety, told L’Orient Today that while the decision is hopeful in principle, he has his doubts.
“Will it be applied correctly? Will the private offices abide by the law? Would there be control over them? The application of the mechanism and the supervision over it is what determines if it is a good move or not,” Akl said.
Corruption, bribery, arrests
Several high-ranking officials, including Hoda Salloum, the general director of the road traffic department, were sued in court for “professional negligence.” Salloum was released on bail in May 2023, without a decision having been reached.
On May 15, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) launched a program increasing security patrols and establishing checkpoints across Beirut to "maintain security and order" and target illegal motorcycles and vehicles, citing statistics that link these vehicles to criminal activity.
The plan faced significant backlash, particularly from individuals whose vehicles were confiscated while the Nafaa was not fully operational. They pointed to the contradictions evident in getting penalized by the state for not having licenses, while the state was simultaneously unable to maintain the process for applying for and receiving a license.
“We stand with the state and we are all for implementing a security plan, however, we believe that the current plan has some gaps,” Maen Khalil, head of the Ghobeiry municipality, told L’Orient Today back in May.
“The Nafaa is still closed, almost two years later, for citizens in Lebanon who want to obtain a license to drive their motorcycle, so when the current security plan is implemented, the state should take into account that this person who is driving a motorcycle without a license is not trying to break the law,” Khalil explained.