Interior secretary Fred Matiang’i. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Isuzu East Africa on Thursday delivered 170 pick-ups to the Ministry of Interior as part of a Sh4.6 billion contract with the ministry.
The dealer will eventually lease 514 units of its pick-ups, buses, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) for deployment to the officers in that ministry, including the National Police Service, sub-county and county commissioners.
“The vehicle lease deal was a welcome marker for the fifth-anniversary celebrations since Isuzu Motors came into East Africa in mid-2017, taking over ownership of the company from General Motors,” said Hiroshi Hisatomi, chairman of Isuzu East Africa.
The latest dispatch adds to the previous 131 vehicles that the company had previously delivered.
The Isuzu D-Max pick-ups are assembled locally while the SUVs are imported as fully-built units.
The vehicles will have access to more than 55 authorised service centres countrywide, ensuring quick service and routine maintenance within the assembler’s network, according to Rita Kavashe, Isuzu EA managing director.
With the government set to exempt locally assembled passenger cars from value-added tax (VAT) and excise taxes, Isuzu will be among the companies benefiting from a more favourable investment climate.
“We are grateful that the National Treasury proposed tax incentives to exempt locally assembled passenger cars from 20 percent excise duty and 16 percent VAT,” said Ms Kavashe.
“This bold move will spur greater investments leading to the creation of jobs in assembly plants, skills and technology transfer and thus boosting the overall growth of our manufacturing sector.”
The government has since 2013 leased more than 3,000 police vehicles in a move aimed at cutting costs and improving police mobility in their daily operations.
Isuzu, which runs the biggest assembly plant by production volumes, has won multiple leasing and purchase contracts from the national and county governments.
The company had delivered 13 Isuzu D-Max double cabin pickups to the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) on December 28, 2021, marking the first batch of a total fleet of 29 units.
On September 20, 2021, Kitui County received five specially built Isuzu trucks for transporting cattle valued at Sh58.5 million, each at Sh11.7 million.
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