Jeddah will get a second Motor Vehicle Periodic Inspection (MVPI) center here soon to help ease the backlog of roadworthy testing at the current station.

Muhammad Al-Smaili, director general of the station in Jeddah, said the authorities have decided to open a new one, adjacent to the current facility, because of public demand.

The new station would be built soon in cooperation with the Jeddah traffic department, he told Arab News. The current station has the capacity to deal with 1,500 vehicles, but is only running at 70 percent capacity because it does not have enough technicians, he said.

He said roadworthy testing helps to improve safety on the nation's roads. Every station in the country adheres to a standard national testing system.

He said five to six persons are involved in a four-stage process to check whether a car is fit to drive on the Kingdom's roads.

“If a vehicle fails the test, the driver is given a grace period of 14 days to repair the flaws and shortcomings, and then return to the station for a final check to ensure the repairs have been done,” he said.

Several citizens have complained of long queues at the station, and called on the authorities to open a second station.

Motorist Badah Al-Mutairi said he hopes his "suffering from waiting in long lines" would end soon. He said he went several times to the station. “Every time I come back, there is greater congestion.”

Yasser Khalil also called on the authorities to speed up the construction of the second station.