The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) has finished refurbishing a factory shell and installing a production plant that will produce vehicle registration plates.
The US$1 million project is being jointly implemented by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development in conjunction with the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development.
Acting Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Sekai Nzenza made the announcement while addressing Tuesday’s post-Cabinet briefing. She said:
The refurbishment of the factory shell to house the National Number Plate Programme at the University of Zimbabwe has reached 90 per cent completion, with the number plates production plant having been installed.
The plant has the capacity to produce seven million e-number plates annually.
The development is expected to reduce the import bill as well as the cost of vehicle registration plates.
Zimbabwe reportedly spends more than US$800 000 annually in importing vehicle number plates.
In 2021, Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development Minister Amon Murwira announced that the production of plates would be coordinated through a national project being implemented by a consortium of universities and colleges at their innovation hubs.
Murwira told State media that universities and colleges will use local resources and skills to develop a system that will ease the shortage of vehicle number plates and create a new generation vehicle registration system that will improve driving standards and prevent fraud.
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Education would seem to be secondary to making money.