The Ministry of Transport & Logistics looks to consolidate the scattered driver licensing and vehicle registration procedures, combating fraud in licensing; a study discovered covers a third of all driving permits. Authorities hope to acquire a modern transport and traffic management system, estimated to cost 107 million dollars, which can help them in the fight.

Microchips containing biometric data of drivers such as fingerprints and iris scans are among the changes to be introduced in what authorities say will be "smart driving licenses".

The former Federal Transport Authority (FTA) had been overseeing the registration and licensing of vehicles and issuing drivers' licenses. However, regional and city administrations have been delegated issuing the licenses. They operate autonomously, without a central database for registering motor vehicles, drivers, and heavy-duty machine operators. The registration and licensing processes are still carried out manually.

The head office for the now-defunct transport authority, on General Abebe Damtew St. (around La Gare area), will be converted to a data centre for a transport and traffic management system. According to Bahiru Mossa, the Transport Systems Improvement Project Office manager under the Transport Ministry, the centre will give regional states and municipalities access to primary data.

His Office reports to Dagmawit Moges, minister of Transport & Logistics.

“The history of the driver and the vehicle can be accessed through the central database," Bahiru told Fortune.

The Office plans to build auxiliary databases as backup, which will be no shorter than 250Km from the primary data centre as required by international best practice. Bahiru revealed that the location for the auxiliary site would be Bahir Dar, the seat of the Amhara Regional State, 552Km northwest of Addis Abeba.

“There will be no separate data centres for the regions," the Manager said.

In 2019, the Ministry hired an India-based consulting firm, Grail Consulting & Project Management Service, to develop a database and a driver and vehicle registration system infrastructure. Two weeks ago, the Office floated an international tender to develop and implement the transport and traffic management system. Close to 37 companies have bought the bid documents. The bid will open in mid-April, and the winner will be selected in July, according to Bahiru.

“The project is expected to be completed within two years," he said.

The transport and traffic management system is part of a bigger scheme – the Transport Systems Improvement Project (TRANSIP) financed by the World Bank.

With an outlay of 300 million dollars, TRANSIP aims to improve mobility in Addis Abeba and the effectiveness of road safety compliance systems throughout the country. The Ministry implements project components under federal jurisdiction, while the Addis Abeba City Roads Authority (ACCRA) is responsible for implementation at the city level, where it will be rolled out first. Addis Abeba is home to two-thirds of the 1.3 million registered vehicles on the country's roads.