Malawi banks on new system at Road Traffic to boost revenue

The Malawi Traffic Information System (MALTIS) currently being upgraded at the Department of Road Traffic and Safety Services will help produce documents with high tech security features that cannot be easily reproduced.

It will also reduce congestion at the department, government said Wednesday.

Minister of Transport and Public Works Francis Kasaila said the department of Road Traffic and Safety Services has procured a contractor, Fischer Consultant, who is upgrading the system.

The system was adopted in 2000 to capture, process and store traffic information and is used for the issuance and renewal of drivers’ licences, motor vehicle licences and permits, road permits and weighbridge data.

Since the system was adopted, however, it has been inflexible, ineffective and inefficient requiring necessary upgrade to ably cater for modern day needs.

The upgrade, according to Kasaila, is with regard to hardware, software and functionality.

Said the minister: “So far, the contractor is working on the upgrade and it is expected that the designs and factory acceptance tests will be completed by the end of this month and installations and commissioning within the following six weeks.”

The minister said the upgraded system is expected to have high tech security features and will be able to produce documents with security features that will be distinct and difficult to reproduce.

He said it will have unique user rights and some processes will require two or three officers at different levels of security to be completed.

“The system will now be connected to weighbridge stations and will interface with the systems used at MRA for vehicle registration, and insurance companies to capture information on vehicle insurance, the police and commercial banks.”

He said the system will speed up processes and, therefore, deal with the problem of congestion which has been a characteristic of the department.

Commenting on the challenges facing the system, Kasaila said over time the system has become slower in processing information leading to delays in the delivery of services and resulting in congestion.

“Some security features have been compromised due to hardware and software fatigue and the delays caused have resulted into the proliferation of third party dealers or dobadobas,” he said.