Mozambique driving licenses: The price hike has cometh

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Mozambique driving licenses: The price hike has cometh

6:44 CAT | 06 Nov 2018

Driving licenses cost almost eight times as much as before. Picture: DW

The cost of obtaining a driving license in Mozambique went up on Monday. Citizens interviewed by DW Africa say the new rates are insupportable, especially given the current cost of living.

The new National Land Transport Institute (INATTER) rates bring to 71,000 meticais (just over EUR 1,000), the cost of a driving instructor or examiners’ training course.

The main criticisms are in relation to the rate for the issuing of the driving license, which went up from 500 to 2,500 meticais (seven to 35 Euros) – a price hike of about 500%. Taking the driving test now costs about 20 times more, and acquiring a vehicle registration document 15 times more.

Citizens interviewed by DW Africa in Maputo are not short of criticism for the new prices. “There is no need for such exorbitant amounts,” one resident complains. “The cost of living is high now. Many young people have no work and turn to driving a van, driving someone from one point to another,” he explains.

“The situation we are experiencing now is very sad. The cost of living has increased greatly and I think the people are not prepared for these new rates,” another resident says. “And it will also be a cost to the drivers,” another driver notes.

Driving license is not for everyone

Speaking recently on the private television channel STV, the deputy minister of Transport and Communications, Manuela Rebelo, played down the impact the increased INATTER rates will have.

Rebelo said that the increases arose from the withdrawal of state subsidies in several sectors, making the current INATTER rates unsustainable.

“The driving license is not like the identity card. The identity card is mandatory, the driving license is not. It depends on my circumstances whether I will get one or not,” she said.

But economist Alfredo Monjane says that “the cost of education for access to employment – in this case the cost of getting a driving licence – turns out to be even greater”. Therefore, he argues, “We are also here, in a way, placing barriers to access to employment”.

More price hikes on their way

The last week saw long queues at INATTER in Maputo in an attempt to avoid paying the new rates.

Leonildo Fumo made no secret of his dissatisfaction. “I’m not very happy. Last week I paid 500 meticais, there was a sea of people and I could not get the driving licence. Today, I come back with the receipt from that day and they tell me that I have to pay the difference. I’m fuming,” he recounts.

In the Mozambican capital, tariff readjustments on the integrated urban and inter-urban rail and Metrobus, a metropolitan region transport system combining buses and trains, are also scheduled for December.

Source: Deutsche Welle