The department of transport has signed a five-year R365 million contract with Face Technologies, an arivia.kom subsidiary, to replace its National Traffic Information System (Natis).
The contract will replace almost 100 separate systems now being used to store vehicle-related records with a single centralised data centre integrating driver`s licences, vehicle registrations and accident reports with information on traffic offenders and vehicle manufacturers. The deal will also establish nine provincial call centres through which the public will be able to access information in the system.
Face Technologies is the primary contractor responsible for software on the project. Other partners in the TASIMA consortium include black empowerment group Thuthukani Information Technical Services. Arivia.kom was formed from the merged technology arms of Denel, Eskom and Transnet.
Sipho Khumalo, deputy director general in the transport department, says the current traffic management system, in use since 1994, has never "risen to the occasion" and is in need of an overhaul. He said it was important the department "take Natis beyond where we have got thus far".
Khumalo says the contract is also an important part of the five-year Road to Safety campaign announced a few weeks ago. He says reliable reporting systems and information integrity are critical to the success of the project.
The contract includes a 32-month development and rollout period, which includes the migration of existing data to the new system.
Ben Schutte, project manager for software development at Face Technologies, says the final implementation will include modules for infrastructure data including traffic officer information, motor vehicle and driver testing centres, motor manufacturer numbers, driver`s licences, accident reports and traffic offences.
Schutte says although there will be a Web interface built into the final implementation of Natis, there are no immediate plans to give the public access to this. He says any decision to allow owners to register their vehicles online rests with the department of transport.
Schutte also says the contract covers only the integration of data and does not include mobile access points for traffic officials. He says, however, that such a service could be provided using handheld devices equipped with Wap browsers.
Natis will include portals granting motor vehicle manufacturers, the department of home affairs, driver`s licence card manufacturers and the SA Police Services access to information. The current driver`s licence cards will not be replaced under the new system.
Schutte says current traffic systems manage approximately 9 million vehicle registrations, 8 million driver`s licences and around 580 000 accident reports annually. He says the new server-based system will ensure information updates are made available to all sites in real-time.
Zeth Malele, CEO of arivia.kom, says the contract is an "overwhelming opportunity" to create a "framework with which this country and continent can thrive.
"We want to make sure people arrive alive," he says.
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