KIGALI - About 35, 000 Rwandans have registered with the Rwanda National Police (RNP) to acquire new electronic driving licences, the head of Traffic Police, Superintendent Robert Niyonshuti has said.

Apparently, about 70,000 Rwandans have the old licences.

"Half of those with valid driving licenses registered for new ones which we intend to start distributing soon,” said Niyonshuti.

The new electronic licenses are plastic and bear a built-in data bar that will contain all details of the holder.

The process of registering for the electronic driving licenses started in the last quarter of 2008 and according to Niyonshuti, the new phase of registration is expected to resume on February 16, to March 16.

Niyonshuti however pointed out that there is a number of people who did not register for the new license because they had not got their new national identity cards.

"We have considered those people as well, their registration is commencing mid this month and this time the registration will be conducted on all police stations across the country; after that period we intend to still continue the process until all Rwandans with the old licenses get new ones” said the traffic boss.

He however stressed that the distribution of the new electronic driving licenses is expected to start by the end of February and after that those applying for driving licenses will be issued with the electronic ones.

Only those who owned old driving licenses were registered on the list to get the electronic ones. As a way of verification, police are checking details of the old licenses to see if they correspond with details in the police data base.

The new licenses cost Rwf 50,000 and the government and all the driving license categories in Rwanda will be required to be electronic and the new categories that did not exist before such as A1 and B1 for handicapped motorists will also be issued at the same cost.

Another new category is for D1 vehicles that carry over 30 passengers.

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