The Chief Executive Officer of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Julius Neequaye Kotey, has disclosed that his outfit has registered 9,240 excavators across the country as part of government’s efforts to monitor and regulate the use of heavy machinery, especially in the fight against illegal mining.

Speaking on the KeyPoints, Mr. Kotey explained that out of the total number, 4,955 excavators have been fully documented and placed under strict monitoring systems, while 4,335 others are recorded but still under scrutiny regarding their intended use.

According to him, registered excavators are fitted with tracking devices to ensure they are only deployed for their approved purposes, such as construction.

“We have done 4,955 registrations, and the remaining 4,335 are also captured in our system. These machines are supposed to operate on construction sites or other approved areas. They received clearance from the Ministry before coming in. Once registered, they are tracked, and there is no way they can move outside their permitted zones without detection,” Mr. Kotey said on September 20.

He noted that the tracking system allows the DVLA to monitor excavator movement in real time.

Machines leaving their assigned sites trigger a red flag, prompting immediate alerts to security agencies.

Despite this progress, Mr. Kotey admitted that the DVLA is still struggling to deal with unregistered and underground excavators operating illegally across the country.

“The challenge we face now is with those underground machines that have not been registered. They don’t have clearance or permission from the Ministry, and yet they find their way into operation. That is where the difficulty lies,” he added.

He revealed that the DVLA shares information on excavators with the military to support anti-galamsey operations.

In some cases, machines without proper registration have been seized and handed over to the military for further action.

Mr. Kotey also hinted at stricter enforcement measures to curb illegal use of excavators, stressing that heavy machinery plays a central role in illegal mining and therefore must be tightly controlled.

The regulation of excavators has been a major focus in the fight against illegal mining, with concerns that many of the machines imported into Ghana are diverted for destructive mining activities instead of legitimate construction projects.

By registering and tracking excavators, the DVLA hopes to make it more difficult for galamsey operators to deploy the equipment undetected.