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Wallace Ruzvidzo Herald Reporter

Government is set to receive 20 000 number plates for trucks and trailers at the end of the month, while other plates which are not for public service vehicles are now available, Government has said.

Secretary for Transport and Infrastructural Development Engineer Amos Marawa announced the development at the launch of the Ease of Doing Business 2019-2020 programme in Harare last Thursday.

The availability of number plates is set to alleviate situations where motorists had been unable to register their vehicles for the past several months.

Importers of vehicles were unable to register their vehicles owing to a shortage of number plates and had been advised to obtain Temporary Identification Cards (TICs) for indefinite use as Government worked on the matter.

Eng Marawa said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) had made a commitment to secure funding for plates, but “faltered”.

“ . . . I am happy to say we have also identified option B in terms of resource mobilisation and I should make an announcement to remove the distress on our operators that end of September we will be receiving a set of 20 000 plates for trucks and trailers,” he said.

“I am also happy to say that the other plates which are not for public service vehicles also arrived in the country and they are now available and it will help move the scenario which was unattainable where people were moving without number plates,” said Eng Marawa.

Government is now set to crack the whip on car dealerships that do not register vehicles that are for sale, as it is illegal to do so.

The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development said “vehicle flea markets”, as well as properly registered and long-established garages, were guilty of either keeping unregistered vehicles on their premises for over 14 days or at worst, driving such unmarked vehicles at night in breach of the governing statutes.

It said in terms of the law, only registered car dealers were allowed to keep unregistered vehicles as stock in bond houses for resale to their customers.