Pretoria - A new aluminium number plate system is to be introduced in Gauteng, when the last number plate combination on the current system is issued.
"From 1 November 2010, only the aluminium plate format ... shall be supplied to vehicle owners or proxies of vehicle owners," said Transport MEC Bheki Nkosi on Friday.
He explained the department had opted to roll out the new number plate series on aluminium plate material as soon as the last combination on the current system was issued out.
A pair of plates is expected to cost around R350 and will be allocated during new vehicle registrations and when motorists renew their vehicle registration. The deadline for all the vehicles to convert into the new system is 2013, and thereafter motorists found with old registration plates will be fined.
Nkosi said the province would be recalling vehicles in phases to ensure that all vehicles license plates are converted into aluminium.
The new license plates were expected to have a security feature to help in identifying the rightful owner of a vehicle. This included an embedded unique security device which stores data such as 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.
However, this will be included at a later stage because the proposals submitted by prospective service providers during the tender process did not meet the set standards and specifications of the intelligent aspect of the project. The department was also concerned that there was only one supplier for both the tags tender and the CVC service provider and this would have resulted in uncompetitive pricing.
Nkosi said the intelligent components of the number plate would be introduced once detailed technology investigations had been concluded.
"The plan is to bring the intelligent elements in over a period of 24 months," explained Nkosi, adding that the department was engaging with industry roleplayers and requesting information as to test the new technologies and process before roll out.
He said various options would be evaluated and the most suitable selected.
