Companies that transform vehicles argued that delays have prevented them from fulfilling contracts, while IMT justifies the delays as being down to a lack of resources, IT difficulties and the fact that some processes are not submitted well.

Speaking to Lusa, Ana Cabouco, from Baltrina, said that “procedures change frequently”, that the rules applied “are not uniform neither for all processes, nor in all delegations” of the IMT.

“I have processes that only now, after four months, were finalised and I have others in which, in a week, an inspection was scheduled”, she said, remembering that, at the moment, she has processes waiting for around three months.

Despite recognising that things are improving, she highlighted that she often ends up filing cases outside of Lisbon because the wait is shorter.

The difficulties are corroborated by the company Auto Ribeiro, which explained to Lusa that the approval processes for vehicles with registration are not considered urgent by the IMT, which often means that cases of cars for transporting people with reduced mobility take longer.

She said that the company has around 30 vehicles ready waiting for the 'green light' from the IMT, in an investment of around 60 thousand euros per car: "you can already have an idea of ​​the millions we have here".

José Bourdain, from the National Association of Continuing Care (ANCC), told Lusa that the institution he runs in Sintra (Cercitop) has had a nine-seater vehicle already transformed for months (with a ramp for transporting people in wheelchairs) waiting for IMT's 'green light'.

In information sent to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing, the person responsible highlighted the “serious damage” that this situation causes to companies that transform vehicles, with impacts on support for people with disabilities and the elderly, as well as the National Health Service, with regard to transporting urgent or non-urgent patients.

In the letter sent to the Government, he warned that, with bureaucracy and constant demands, these companies may “stop producing vehicles to transport the elderly and people with disabilities, in addition to ambulances”, which he considers “dramatic”.

Contacted by Lusa, the IMT acknowledged the difficulties, which it explains with the scarcity of human resources, the technological legacy of the institute's computer applications and the “poor submission of some requests” to the services, adding that it has already promoted clarification sessions with companies to try to speed up responses.

IMT clarified that the average processing time for processes is around 90 days, but “with a tendency to reduce”.

As for human resources, they recalled that the technical analysis of transformation processes “must be carried out by mechanical engineers” and that “it has not always been possible to recruit, in sufficient numbers, workers for the vehicle area”.

Even so, the IMT “has been increasing its capacity to respond to requests from the vehicle transformation industry”, pointing to the recent entry of five engineers “for the vehicle approval area”.

Regarding the disparity in criteria used in the analysis of cases, he said that he has made “an effort to train/update his workers”, in order to simplify and standardise procedures.

Regarding IT resources, he indicated that many of the IT applications “are dated”, but recalled that the institute has already advanced with the process of “technological modernization”, in an investment of 2.5 million euros, which will run until December 2025.