Harare Post Reporters
The shortage of vehicle number plates in the country is soon going to be a thing of the past as a state of the art Vehicle Number Plate Production Plant was commissioned at the University of Zimbabwe yesterday.
Speaking after touring and commissioning the Vehicle Number Plate Production Plant yesterday, President Mnangagwa described the establishment of the Vehicle Number Plate Production Plant as a breakthrough that will enable local production of digital number plates at a competitive cost.
“The University of Zimbabwe, in collaboration with sister institutions such as Harare Institute of Technology (HIT), Midlands State University (MSU), Chinhoi University of Technology (CUT), Bindura University of Science and Technology (BUSE), National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Harare and Mutare Polytechnic Colleges, formed the consortium establishing the National Transtech Solutions Private Limited Company which is running the Vehicle Number Plate Production Plant we are commissioning today.
“The Plant is a breakthrough that will enable the local production of number plates at competitive cost. Well done to all the institutions of higher learning involved in this project,” said President Mnangagwa.
The President added that the newly established Vehicle Number Plate Production Plant has the capacity of producing five million Number Plates per year.
“The Vehicle Number Plate Production Plant can produce about five million Number Plates per year against our annual demand of 200 000 thereby exceeding our national requirements,” said the President.
President Mnangagwa challenged the consortium involved in the production of Number Plates to scale up research and innovation towards the production of local raw materials to support the Production Plant. He said that ways should be explored to exploit the bauxite reserves in the country and recycling initiatives to produce aluminium which is a critical raw material for the Plant.
Speaking at the same occasion, Deputy Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Development, Mike Madiro said that the innovations that were displayed by the UZ would propel the country towards the attainment of Vision 2030.
Meanwhile, the establishment of the Vehicle Number Plate Production Plant is expected significant reduce the country’s import bill by cutting on the import of number plates from outside the country. Number Plate shortages are also going to ease as the Plant would be producing enough for the country’s needs.
