Reply: I am informed by the Commissioner of Police that, as far back as April 2008, a leading consulting firm, namely De Chazal Du Mée (DCDM), was commissioned to assess the requirements of the Traffic Branch with a view to digitalising its service delivery system, including the conversion of the paper-based driving licence into a smart card format. Following the report of the DCDM, the Central Informatics Bureau (CIB) started to work on the specifications for the establishment, in the first instance, of an Integrated Driving Licence Management System, comprising a database of all driving licence holders. This is operational since March 2013. The system also incorporated the Penalty Point System introduced by my Government, which was fully functional and was reaping conclusive results. However, in 2015, the decision was taken to replace the Penalty Point System by a Cumulative Road Traffic Offences System, which have proved to be a complete failure. This had required the modification of the IT infrastructure of the Traffic Branch, thus further

174 delaying the phase-wise implementation of the project for the conversion of the paper-based Driving Licence into a Smart Card format. With the implementation of the new National Identity Card (MNIC 3.0) as from 2023, discussions were held between the technical team of the Central Informatics Bureau, the Traffic Branch of the Police Force and other stakeholders, with the supplier of the MNIC 3.0 system, to explore the possibility of including a digital format of the driving licence in the same software application hosting the mobile identity card. However, the proposal submitted by the supplier was not found to be acceptable due to its exorbitantly high cost. With regard to part (a) of the question, I am informed that the Ministry of Information Technology, Communication and Innovation along with the Police Department and other relevant stakeholders, are still having broad consultations to come up with a cost estimate of the final project in line with the updated specifications which are being worked by the Central Informatics Bureau. The conduct of a market survey and a competitive tender exercise are under consideration for a more cost-effective implementation of the digital driving licence project. As regards part (b) of the question, I have been informed that the current driving licence database covers approximately 887,899 driving licences, including all categories of drivers. Concerning part (c) of the question, I am informed that a tentative implementation timeline for the conversion of the paper-based driving licence into a digital format can only be known upon the completion of the ongoing consultations and the expected timeline for the tendering processes are known. COCAINE DISCOVERY – TRACTOPELLE’S ENGINE – INQUIRY