Kenyan motorists are set to start paying Sh. 3,700 for new digital registration number plates.
Every owner of a car, a bus, a lorry or a pick-up will pay Sh3,700 for the new plates that come with a microchip that can be read remotely, while motorcyclists and trailer owners will pay Sh1,500, according to newly gazetted rules.
Newly gazetted regulations by Transport secretary James Macharia will require each vehicle to have a front and rear plate besides a third licence — a sticker placed on the windscreen of a vehicle bearing information on the ownership for technical inspection, tax and insurance validation, among others.
A radio frequency identification (RFID) microchip will be embedded on the sticker to facilitate wireless transfer of information between it and mobile police readers or at traffic lights.
“We will give people a time frame within which to make the transition. We will tell people that within this period (one or two years), they will have to change their number plates,” the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) director-general Francis Meja said.