The Transport Control Department are to build satellite stations in the East and West End while also revamping their Hamilton headquarters which will go two-storey.

The $5.2 million plan will see one lane testing at Rockaway, Southampton and Southside, St. David?s while the central North Street site will have two lanes for cars and one each for bikes and trucks.

Transport Control Director Kevin Monkman told work on the satellite stations would start in the autumn, subject to some planning technicalities, and should be finished by next summer.

Work on the revamped headquarters will then follow in the next financial year.

He said: ?The satellite stations will take vehicles while we are building in Hamilton.?

Emissions and vehicle testing at all sites will be taken over by a single contractor while TCD maintains its administration function on the second floor of the new HQ.

Customers will not pay the contractor but all fees will be collected by TCD who will pay the contractor on an annual basis.

Mr. Monkman said its inspectors will make sure the contractor is doing the testing properly and adjudicate appeals from drivers who feel unfairly treated.

He said the decision to outsource testing had been taken by the previous government and was common in other jurisdictions.

?We looked at testing at local garages but we felt the administration of that would be more complex and would rather having one contractor operate three facilities rather than 30 little garages doing their own thing.

?The customer still has a choice in where they go.?

Government introduced new stringent emissions requirements for vehicles imported from April, 2001, mirroring standards in America, the European Union and Japan.

?The next step was to have annual emissions testing to measure what actually comes out of the tailpipe.?

The tests will start once the HQ has been completed. He said standards for brake testing would increase with the new facilities getting rollers to measure performance. ?It is more accurate and less subjective method of testing. It provides an objective set of results.?

Headlight alignment and joints will also be assessed.

The revamped North Street building will move slightly westwards towards Bernard Park and be designed to be more customer friendly than the current building. TCD will still be responsible for licensing and regulating vehicles and taking driving tests.