VietNamNet Bridge – Starting from March 9, HCM City will allow driver to make appointments to renew their licences by calling a new phone centre on 1081.

HCM City's transport department receives drivers' licence applications. Drivers will be able to make appointments over the phone via a new call centre from March 9.

Senior official from the city's transport department, Vo Trong Nhan, told vnexpress.net the service was intended to make the process more convenient and shorten the required time to issue a new licence.

"People will be able to call the centre and make appointments that suit their schedule. They will be notified later once a time slot is available, which will eliminate the need for them to book at an office," he said.

The centre will require citizens to provide information such as ID numbers, addresses and contact details.

Applications must include a valid health certificate, and in some cases, citizens will be asked to bring along their house books if they no longer reside at the addresses shown on their ID.

The city runs eight driving licence offices, but for the time being, requests handled by the centre will only be processed at 252 Ly Chinh Thang in District 3.

After Tet, the offices have noted an increase in the number of renewal requests, as the country is in the process of switching to new plastic licences, rather then the old paper ones.

Nhan said the city's transport department had plans to open another office. In the meantime, it has asked existing offices to work extra hours during weekdays and remain open on Saturday in order to handle the high number of requests.

VNS