The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has entered into a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to improve Smart Driving Licences issued in the country.
In a notice published on Tuesday, February 24, NTSA announced that the PPP will reduce the production timeline of Smart DLs within 48 hours.
The PPP signed by the Authority, the Kenya Commercial Bank, and Pesa Point will purchase three production machines to facilitate faster production of the digital licenses.
The new smart licences will be five-layered polycarbonate smart cards, and drivers will pay Ksh3,000 for issuance, duplication or replacement.
NTSA stated that the smart driving licenses will contain a record of the driver’s history and the driver’s life cycle.
Drivers will also have access to a digital mobile driving wallet incorporated into the smart DLs, where they can deposit money, which can be used to pay fines or license renewals.
“The PPP will incorporate the deployment, implementation, and operationalisation of the instant fine infrastructure, including mobile driving licence wallet, driver merit and demerit point system, driver history, driver life cycle management and general information,” the Safety Authority explained.
NTSA disclosed plans to establish 102 enrolment centres and deploy 392 enrolment kits across the country to ensure that all drivers have the smart DLs.
“There is low driver enrolment due to inadequate enrolment kits and centres. Out of the estimated 5 million drivers, only 1,3 million have acquired smart driving licenses,” the notice read in part.
NTSA will also install a total of 1,000 speed enforcement cameras and set up a National Control Command Centre, where information on speeding drivers will be sent and fines processed.
The PPP has been estimated at Kh42 billion and will enable the production of 5 million smart licences every 3 years for 21 years.
NTSA estimated the economic costs of road accidents at Ksh450 billion in medical care, which totals to 5 percent of Kenya’s GDP.
