Motorists will soon be forced to dig deeper into their pockets for services from the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) if proposals to increase its service charges are implemented.
NTSA is proposing an increase of up to 900 percent for services to fund its budget deficit amounting to over Sh2.3 billion.
In draft proposals by the NTSA, that are being subjected to stakeholder engagement, the road service licenses for public service vehicles will change between 98 percent to 100 percent as a road license for a PSV with between six and eight passengers will move from Sh2,700 to Sh5,400.
PSV with 26 passengers or more will rise by 98 percent to Sh8400.
According to the proposal, inspection charges will also go up between 100 percent and 250 percent with vehicles below 3000 cc charged Sh2,000 up from Sh1,000 while for heavy commercial vehicles exceeding five tons, charges will move from Sh1,000 to Sh3,500.
The cost of motor vehicle registration has also been proposed to go up by 100 percent.
Registration of vehicles below 1000cc will move from Sh1700 to Sh3400 while those 3001 and above cc will pay Sh16,600 up from Sh8,300.
If the proposals by NTSA are adopted, it will cost you 3900 percent more to change the particulars of the colour of your vehicle from Sh500 to Sh20,000 while the transfer of ownership for motor vehicles not exceeding 1000cc will increase from Sh1,660 to Sh10,000.
The transfer of ownership of other vehicles will go up by 100 percent if the proposal goes through.
The renewal of licenses for motor vehicle dealers is also proposed to go up.
For a second hand motor vehicle dealers license, you will pay Sh100,000 up from between Sh4200 and Sh9600.
NTSA has been operating at a deficit and so they have had to make the changes to make NTSA sustainable.
As at June 30th this year, the authority had a budget deficit of Sh2.374 billion.
“The deficit is more than 500 every year and now it’s more than a billion in terms of deficit and we are looking at long term and our improvement is a long term one as our rates have not changed for the past 10 years,” said Paul Posh, board member at NTSA.
The board attributed the need to make changes in its rates to more responsibilities at NTSA which has necessitated more funding.
“Our capacity has been growing, our challenges too the number of roads, the number of inspection staions have been growing and so we will need more money,” adds Posh.
The proposals will be put through public participation and members of the public will have their say on the same.
The proposal which are likely to pass sparked outrage online with Kenyans terming them outrageous and insensitive.
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