43 people receive priority taxi permits from LTA

43 people got priority taxi permits from the Land Transport Authority today.

Speaking at the handover ceremony, Acting Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said the Land Transport Authority has come a long way as some people were getting taxi permits in the past because of a person’s ethnicity, who they went to school with and whether they were from the same province.

He also told the recipients that they can now use the permit as security for a loan.

Sayed-Khaiyum said before taxi permits were being issued for a term of 3 years and now it is 10 years. 

Sayed- Khaiyum says under the new Access to Information law that was passed in parliament last week, people can go and ask LTA why their application was declined, who made the decision, what criteria was followed.

He says it is people’s rights now.

Under the amended LTA regulations, a person who wishes to apply for a taxi permit, must apply within 21 days of the date of the last advertisement, the application must be in the prescribed form with the prescribed fee.

The applicant must be a natural person, a Fijian Citizen and resides in the transport zone for which the application will be made.

The applicant must never have been convicted of an offence, the applicant does not hold and has never held a taxi permit, each member of the applicants household does not and has never held a taxi permit and the total annual income of the members of the applicants household does not exceed $20,000.

Meanwhile, 44-year-old Filomena Taukei, from Buca Bay, says she had applied for the permit in 2013.

Taukei, who has her own catering business, says this permit will provide a source of income for her family.

She adds she will take a loan to get a car to use as a taxi. 

44-year-old Filomena Taukei from Buca Bay receiving her permit from the AG