Johannesburg - The Gauteng Transport Department says at least 200 000 vehicles will have the new securitized aluminium number plates by the end of October.
"Part of the process of doing this will involve undertaking a roll call of all vehicles in Gauteng to ensure all cars are properly registered and licenced and that there are no vehicles on public roads with false number plates," said Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport Bheki Nkosi.
The new licence plates, which is hoped will assist in the reduction of fraud and theft of vehicles, will have a security feature that will make identifying the rightful owner of a vehicle easier.
The enabling legislation and regulation for the project will be published in April.
Nkosi said the department would fast-track the process of appointing a service provider to implement and operate the system in the province.
The department will inform motorists when to change their licence plates.
Nkosi said as part of the rollout, motorists would not need to change their current registration numbers until all the registration numbers have been exhausted.
Motorists will be allowed to retain their current registration numbers, however, they will have go through a renewal exercise to ensure their number plates are manufactured within the new specifications.
Current vehicle owners will be able to keep their old registration numbers when converting to the new licence plates, however new vehicles are intended to start on the intelligent number plate project.
When ordering the new number plates from the accredited manufacturers in October, motorists will be required to produce their personal identification and vehicle identification documents.
The number plates are projected to cost an additional R50 to the current cost of purchasing a set. The price for a pair will range from R150 and R170 depending on the supply-demand market transactions, however, the department will be closely monitoring the situation to protect motorists from exorbitant pricing.
Some of the key features of the new plates will include an embedded unique security device that will store data of the date of issue, the manufacturer's name, an expiry date indicating when the plate needs to be replaced as well as a bar code.
