Number plate hitch heaps losses on used car importers

Business
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Nearly 4,000 used vehicles are stuck at the port of Mombasa after their importers failed to secure local number plates needed to operate on Kenyan roads.

Motor industry insiders said the country has been experiencing an acute shortage of number plates arising from the manual production at the Kamiti Maximum Prisons.

Car Importers Association (CIA) said the shortage, which is costing them thousands of shillings in demurrage charges at the port, has persisted since September last year.

The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), the sector regulator, has registered 3,996 units whose number plates are yet to be delivered, importers said.

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CIA chairman Peter Otieno said the NTSA’s February’s pledge that supply will be stable by April, which was later pushed back to July 1, failed to materialise, resulting in increased storage and demurrage costs for importers.

Mr Otieno added that the NTSA has also failed to honour its promise to issue stickers with details of the vehicles at the time of registration to allow the Kenya Revenue Authority to release them and save the importers mounting storage costs.

“We accepted that and we have been very quiet, but July has started, nothing has changed, there are no stickers, the actual number plates are not there, we don’t know what to do and we are incurring storage (charges),” he told the Business Daily on the phone. “Why should we incur storage for somebody’s inefficiency?”

The storage costs for the smallest unit at Container Freight Station is as much as Sh3,000 a day, Mr Otieno said, translating to Sh11.988 million for the units presently at the port.

NTSA director for registration and licensing Jacqueline Githinji admitted the country can only produce about 1,000 plates against a demand of more than 3,000 vehicles. She, however, said that supply has only outstripped demand in the last two months.

“The registrations are ahead of the number plates and, therefore, that causes a problem. The supply is affected by the technology of producing the old plates which is manual and they (Kamiti Prisons) can’t use machines,” Ms Githinji told the Business Daily on phone.

“With the modern technology, they should use an automated machine to emboss the number.”

Dutch firm J Knieriem in March won a court case where it had in December challenged last September’s award of Sh1 billion tender to Ugandan and Kenyan firms for supply of materials for proposed new generation number plates.

The firm had argued that it had been excluded from the re-evaluation of bids where the Kenyan firm Tropical Technologies won the Sh1 billion deal to supply blank plates, while the hot stamping foil deal went to Uganda’s MIG International, which bid Sh140 million

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/news/Numbers-hitch-holds-4000-cars-port/539546-4019140-vthftl/index.html

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NTSA director for registration and licensing Jacqueline Githinji admitted the country can only produce about 1,000 plates against a demand of more than 3,000 vehicles. She, however, said that supply has only outstripped demand in the last two months.

chapa kiboko the whole procurement line ya ntsa, if that what will get things in line

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NTSA wana mchezo

Birrionaires wataumia

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si wapeleke production to other prisons as well, do they have to be produced at Kamiti only?

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Exactly, don’t forget we are still waiting for the promised new generation number plates, ama ilikua ni hekaya

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The prisoners in kamiti are busy engaged in sending fake text messages and making bogus calls.lazima kitunguu inuke kwao pia.

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Hii story kuna vile imeongezwa aromat mingi sana.
Kuna watu wanapiga NTSA.
NTSA has created enough enemies from police, insurance guys,kra and clearing agents.
Especially this part where you have to register to TIMS first before no. plates are issued.
Anyway gari unaweza toa ata na KG numbers.

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Just automate the damn process and get out of stone age. Alternatively, set targets for team kamiti and beat the living shit out of inmates who don’t meet their daily targets

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I wonder what’s taking them that long, considering Kenyan number plates are very ugly.

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All the people affected should not be charged demurrage charges as in makosa si yao

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Remember that there is a new driving license coming

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hekaya ingine

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Bloody hell, na niko na gari imeingia Juzi huko, Mungu atusaidie

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hahaha… but surely si wapatie hizo prisons zingine job at least…!!!

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I heard KG number plates u pay 3500 daily. Is it true?

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Unachota thao mbili unatoa ngari jamaa pale inje anakuundia number plate fake unapandisha ngari 047. Original plates zitakuja na chania. Done that twice this year

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Too much trouble:eek::eek: Just pay 2500 or 3000 and get KG plates alafu park gari nyumbani ukingoja plates…o_Oo_O

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Not true.

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Let’s devolve our prison system. Evry county with its prisoners. Instead of Kamiti holding the monopoly

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Let me educate you a lilo bit about these things and why there is beef.
After importing the vehicle, you pay duty to KRA CUSTOMS. It’s the responsibility of the KRA guys to make sure that you have paid the correct amount. Now NTSA (a totally different organization) is responsible for registering ALL the motor vehicles and issue the logbook and also the number plates.
Beef 1. Now there are charges associated with logbook and number plates. NTSA wants that money but they want kra to collect it so that incase of anything they are not answerable.
Beef 2. Insurance. You all remember the government directive that all imports should be locally insured. Now NTSA still wants a piece of this cash but they want Kra to collect it. Insurance on the other hand wants to collect and retain the cash, but the how is the problem.
Beef 3. clearing agents and importers. Legally you are not supposed to release the vehicle without the number plates. In order to get the number plates you need to register to TIMS and upload all the documents you have.i.e. entry, idf.invoice yaani technically all the documents needed to clear the vehicle. After you wait for NTSA to issue you the no.plate and wait even more for them to dispatch them to the CFS that your vehicle is. A long wait my fren. So here there are two different organizations that have totally refused to work together but they all pretend to be.