
Radar | Sep 10,2021
Car buyers face a shortage of license plates as the federal agency responsible for manufacturing the plates ran out of raw materials earlier this month. The shortage of private (Code-2) plates is due to a lack of hot stamping foil used to paint the embossed plate numbers.
Productions of the plates were discontinued two weeks ago, confirmed Solomon Ambachew, director of communications at the Public Transport Service Agency.
The Agency took over the job of license plate manufacturing from the Federal Transport Authority last October after the latter was dissolved as part of a shuffling under the administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD). It has minted out nearly 5,000 plates in the months since. However, the declining stock of stamping foil has been a serious concern for its officials.
They have prompted the Ministry of Transport & Logistics to facilitate access to foreign exchange from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) to import raw materials.
“We've yet to receive a response," Solomon told Fortune.
This is a development that surfaced amid a surge in the number of vehicles imported. New cars, particularly Suzuki models, have mushroomed on the roads of Addis Abeba in recent months. An average of 3,100 cars are brought in a month, added to the more than 1.3 million vehicles registered. Over two-thirds of these vehicles are in the capital.
Regional and city administrations are responsible for assigning and distributing license plates to vehicle owners. The Addis Abeba Driver & Vehicle Licensing Authority distributes plates in the capital's 11 districts through its branch offices. Vehicle owners are required to present title certificates, proof of third-party insurance, and annual vehicle inspection certificates to receive plates. They are charged close to 2,500 Br for the service.
Most of the plates the Authority hands out are for private vehicles or vehicles registered to businesses (Code-3). It had requested 10,000 "Code-2" license plates from the Agency three months ago. Its officials say declining stocks forced them to seek additional plates before the end of the budget year.
“We're told only 'Code-3' license plates are available for delivery,” said Taye Dibaba, director of license accreditation at the Authority.
The Authority used to allocate plates to district offices upon demand. However, its officials have begun to divvy up licenses equally as stocks ran low. The Kirkos, Nifas Silk Laphto, and Bole districts have the highest demands for plates. The branch office in Kirkos District issues close to 400 private vehicle plates a month. As supply ran out, officials there had started to register applicants in hopes of serving them when plates arrived.
“We stopped this procedure because it was vulnerable to corruption,” said Yitawes Teshome, vehicle licensing service team leader.
The supply disruptions have been an inconvenience to vehicle importers.
Sara General Import Plc sells Suzuki and Toyota models with zero miles. Many of its customers buy cars, taking loans from commercial banks. It had sold 30 vehicles over the past month but could not collect payments due to the license plate shortage, Eyasu Gizaw, general manager of the car dealership, told Fortune. Commercial banks disburse loans to dealerships after vehicles are fitted with plates. Vehicles must be fitted with plates before they make their way onto the roads. Owners are permitted to drive with temporary plates for three days.
A similar shortage had transpired last year. It was solved after the Transport Ministry facilitated forex access to import raw materials its officials claim was sufficient to produce around 1.5 million license plates. Last November, the federal government announced plans to outsource license plate production and distribution to the private sector. Little has transpired since.
PUBLISHED ON
May 21,2022 [ VOL
23 , NO
1151]
Radar | Sep 10,2021
Fortune News | Jun 12,2021
Agenda | Jan 05,2020
Fortune News | May 29,2021
Radar | May 21,2022
Radar | Aug 07,2021
Radar | Sep 26,2021
Radar | Aug 14,2021
Films Review | Oct 26,2019
Films Review | Nov 23,2019
July 2 , 2022 . By RUTH TAYE
On a rainy afternoon last week, a coffee processing facility in the capital's Akaki-Qality District was abuzz with activ...
November 27 , 2021
Against my will, I have witnessed the most terrible defeat of reason and the most sa...
November 13 , 2021
Plans and reality do not always gel. They rarely do in a fast-moving world. Every act...
October 16 , 2021 . By HAWI DADHI
Residing in a country with no capital market, an organised marketplace for trading se...
July 2 , 2022
After nearly two years since the civil war broke out in northern Ethiopia, adversarie...
June 25 , 2022
It is not the best of times to be in charge of governance in Ethiopia, whether at the...
June 18 , 2022
Some of Ethiopia's economic policymakers may take solace from realising that inflatio...
June 11 , 2022
The stereotype many people have of parliamentarians is as clueless seat fillers who exist to rubber stamp legislative bi...
Put your comments here