The government is set to roll out new digital car number plates beginning January 2020.

Correctional Services Principal Secretary Zainab Hussein said the government is in the process of identifying design for the new generation number plates ahead of the roll out next year.

Hussein revealed that officials tasked with making the new plates are benchmarking in three different countries.

The smart number plates will be issued to Kenyan car owners at a fee of Sh3,000.

“We have sent a team to go to three countries to design a system that uses our own local material to produce the securitized digitized new generation number plates by January 2020,” Ms. Hussein said.

The new plates will come with anti-counterfeit features including holograms, watermarks, and laser markers.

The features will help authorities to trace information on particular vehicles and their owners.

The new generation plates were set to be launched in 2015 but the process delayed after the Public Procurement Administrative and Review Board (PPARB) annulled Sh2 billion contract awarded to a Ugandan firm, MIG International and Germany’s Hoffman International.

The decision followed an appeal filed by Tropical Technologies. The Kenya Prisons Service was ordered to conduct the tendering process afresh which prompted MIG to sue.

The smart plates will help the government tame tax evaders and criminals who have been taking advantage of the current plates.