The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has stated that Ghana is on the smooth path to modernization with the introduction of the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority’s new smart card for drivers.
Addressing the ceremony to officially outdoor the new Driver’s License at the DVLA Head office, the Vice President said the amount of work invested into the development of the new smart card marks the beginning of a new era in license acquisition and vehicle registration in Ghana.
He charged the management and board of the DVLA to ensure that they continue to grow the innovation that they have introduced to the Authority.
The Chief Executive Officer of the DVLA, Kwasi Busia assured that the Authority will deliver to Ghanaians the full complement of all the services they have outlined to offer.
A breakdown of the cost of the new license shows that the authority had added GH¢91 to the existing charges.
Therefore, a new driving license will now cost GH¢257; replacement of an expired license, GH¢155; license upgrade, GH¢345; replacement of lost driving license, GH¢205 and conversion of a foreign driving licence will cost GH¢445.
According to the DVLA, the new license makes use of the latest technology for secure identification and printing and it could easily be integrated with other systems and has an improved guarantee for securing data.
Printing of the license would not be outsourced as the DVLA has now acquired its own printing machines for that purpose.
The Deputy Director, Driver Training Testing and Licensing, Mr Kafui Semevo, in introducing the new driving license and vehicle registration smart card said as part of the roll-out plan, holders of unexpired licences might have to wait until their licenses were due for replacement, to apply for the new one.
There would, however, be a gradual withdrawal of the PVC driving license from the system.
The Director, Driver Training Testing and Licensing of the DVLA, Mr C.W. Musah, acknowledged that in the past few years, the authority had to confront debilitating challenges, including the faking of driving licenses.
He, however, assured that adequate security measures have been put in place to ensure that cloning of the card and subsequent breach of the security of same is made practically impossible.
