KOICA Transfers Korean-Style Integrated Vehicle Information Management System to Myanmar

Support for Establishing an Online Integrated Vehicle Information Management System by 2023
Expected Improvement in Trust and Public Service of Myanmar Government Transportation Administration

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) will share Korean-style automobile information management know-how to improve Myanmar's transportation environment.

On the 20th (local time), KOICA signed a memorandum of understanding for the ‘Myanmar Integrated Automobile Information Management System Construction Project’ with the Road Transport Department of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Myanmar at the Ministry of Transport and Communications meeting room in Naypyidaw, the capital of Myanmar.

According to the agreement, KOICA plans to build a nationwide integrated automobile information database (DB) by 2023 that enables online processing of traffic administrative tasks such as vehicle registration, inspection, and driver’s license management in 55 townships including Yangon and Naypyidaw.

Specifically, the project includes ▲ development of an integrated automobile information management system and online vehicle registration, inspection, and driver’s license management system ▲ master plan consulting on laws, regulations, and technical standards related to vehicle registration and inspection ▲ support for network equipment for system utilization ▲ capacity-building training for policymakers and system users.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Myanmar, about 8 million vehicles are currently registered in Myanmar, but there is no nationwide integrated vehicle database. Since regional databases built by area and CDs delivered by mail are used to link vehicle information between regions, problems such as duplicate vehicle registration and mismatched vehicle ownership occur in data integration management. Approximately 3% of vehicle-related data is lost during the process of delivering documents by mail to local offices.

Furthermore, there is no linked system among related agencies such as the Police Department, National Tax Department, and Customs Department, causing difficulties for the Myanmar government in collecting vehicle-related taxes. Conversely, Myanmar citizens who own vehicles face many required documents and must visit local offices multiple times to apply for vehicle registration and license issuance, and it is even difficult to verify the authenticity of submitted documents, resulting in low reliability of government services based on vehicle registration information.

Through the construction of this integrated automobile database, KOICA expects to improve the efficiency and accuracy of traffic administrative processing, enhance the Myanmar government’s administrative service capabilities, simplify required documents, and minimize inefficient repetitive tasks through linkage and joint use of traffic information among related agencies, thereby improving convenience for civil petitioners.

The signing ceremony was attended by Lee Sang-hwa, Ambassador to Myanmar; Lee Yeon-su, Head of KOICA Myanmar Office; and U Thant Sin Maung, Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Myanmar.

Lee Yeon-su, Head of KOICA Myanmar Office, said, “Through this project, the Myanmar government will be able to provide fast and convenient administrative services to its citizens, ultimately helping to improve the government’s trust and public service. We will actively transfer Korea’s systematic integrated automobile information management system and advanced e-government technology.”

Low Min Oo, Director of the Road Transport Administration Department of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Myanmar, said, “Myanmar has experienced rapid growth of 6-8% annually, leading to a sharp increase in the number of domestic vehicles, but government management capacity and administrative services are outdated. We hope to effectively manage vehicle information and enable citizens to conveniently use online administrative services in Myanmar by sharing Korea’s know-how, which ranks first in the world in the e-government field.”

Meanwhile, considering the domestic and international spread of COVID-19, KOICA Myanmar Office minimized the scale of the signing ceremony to about 10 people. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the office has been operating a safety response task force (TF) at all times to ensure the safety of KOICA dispatched personnel.