A statement issued by the DVLA said the introduction will also improve revenue generation at the ports on imported vehicles.

The DVLA is working within its mandate to contribute to the overall government agenda of digitizing the economy whilst significantly enhancing the ease of doing business in the country.

“Notwithstanding the increased security of the system and process improvements, the cost of acquiring a DP Licence remains unchanged at GHC 154.00,” the statement said.

It said the upgrade of the DP Licence from the current insecure metal plate to a secure electronic DP STICKER is also to enable the DVLA to introduce cutting edge technology to the management of the DP License.

The statement said the upgrade will ensure that those intending to fake the DP Licence will not be able to do so.

It said the digitization is part of the DVLA’s long-term plan to secure the entire vehicle registration regime in the country and ensure that it meets acceptable standards.

The statement said with the new DP licence, power has been given to the citizens and law enforcement officers to verify the validity of DP License at any given time using various devices including a YAM phone via USSD and barcode scanners.

It also added that this new DP LICENCE is environmentally friendly, biodegradable and has low carbon footprint as compared to the metal plates which the DVLA adopted years ago.

Previously the law enforcement agencies could not check if a vehicle was using a valid DP license on the road or not, the statement said.

However, with the new digitized DP licence, this is now a given possibility since the law enforcement officers and the public can check the authenticity and validity of a DP license.

Other West African countries like Togo and Ivory Coast currently issue digitized trade licenses, which has helped them to work with Interpol and other international law agencies to track stolen vehicles at the points of entry whilst generating more revenue for the government, it said.

The statement said distributors and agents at the ports have welcomed the system and think the smart solution was more convenient than the manual metal plate system.

It said they claimed this solution will increase transparency and accountability and should be expanded to all the entry points to block the leakages and increase government revenues.