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The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) has begun processes to ensure the re-registration of all government vehicles by the end of May. The exercise is in response to a directive by President John Dramani Mahama that all state vehicles be re-registered to ensure use of government funds. The re-registration exercise, which would be carried out in all offices of the DVLA across the country, would cover vehicles belonging to the ministries, departments, agencies, whether on government budget subvention or not, Regional Co-ordinating Councils (RCCs), Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs). Mr Tetteh Matey, Regional Manager, 37 Office of the DVLA, told the GNA in an interview on Monday that the exercise had began with the compilation of a list of all vehicles from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), RCCs and MMDAs provided by the Ministry of Transport. He said files of these vehicles were being retrieved for re-examination and re-registration and new number plates would be prepared for the vehicles. He said the Authority would work with Transport Managers and recognized officers in charge of transport to ensure a smooth exercise. Mr Matey said DVLA had divided the exercise into four phases and grouped institutions under the phases. January 6 to 21 will be for the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development and the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation. The second phase would be for the Ministries of Roads and Highways, Education, Tourism, Gender, Children and Social Protection as well as Employment and Labour, from January 28 to February 20. He said the third phase would follow suit from March 1 to April 30 with the Ministries of Health, Chieftaincy and Culture, Defense, Information, Water Resources Works and Housing, Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, Justice and Attorney-General, Energy and Petroleum, Finance and Economic Planning and the Lands and Natural Resources. Mr Matey said the Authority would complete the final phase of the exercise with the various RCCs and MMDAs from April 1 to 31. He said the Vehicle Licensing section, which is in charge of the exercise, had to deploy other staff from the Diver Licensing section to help due to the immense work load. "We normally have a heavy work load around this time of the year due to the large number of vehicle renewals and new registrations, but the situation is very much under control and we are working hard to complete the exercise on schedule," he said. About 15,000 vehicles are expected to be registered at an estimated cost of GH�1.5 million. There are 25 ministries and 10 regional coordinating councils. The re-registration has become necessary following what critics described as gross abuse of state vehicles, particularly at weekends for events including funerals and weddings. The process involves all the vehicles having their number plates changed into one with a green background, a GV prefix, the year of registration, a code identifying the ministry, department or agency that the vehicle belongs to or a code identifying the regional co-ordinating councils, metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies(MMDAs) to which the vehicle belongs.