New car registrations face number plate shortage
Sri Lanka’s new car registration is likely to face a shortage of vehicle number plates due to the delay in awarding the tender to procure new number plates owing to allegations of corrupt practices and irregularities, informed sources said adding that extending the ongoing contract is also hampered by the present political impasse.
The Motor Traffic Department ( MTD) has to procure 100,000 number plates monthly to cater to new registrations of vehicles and it can manage with current stocks for a short period as a result of the current decline in vehicle imports, a senior MTD official said.
The 5- year contract to produce number plates was awarded to German company Utsch AG with its Sri Lankan partner Access International in 2010. In 2016, tenders were called once again and a bidder was selected but the approval board rejected the selection citing tender irregularities.
The contract was extended in 2015 for another three years to the same party and it has now expired on October 31, 2018.
The MTD has no option other than extending the old contract for the purchase of normal number plates from the current supplier, he said adding that failure to take a decision quickly will result in a shortage of number plates.
However cabinet approval is needed to extend the contract for the same party, he disclosed adding that this is an issue owing to the present political situation in the country.
The Transport Ministry has called for local and international bids to procure vehicle number plates and stickers with Radiofrequency identification ( RFID) with a view to introducing new high tech security number plates for vehicles within the next few months.
The fresh tender issued by the Cabinet Procurement Committee on behalf of the MTD inviting bids from prospective bidders for the supply of at least 30,000 number plates and similar number of RFID stickers closed on April 18.
But so far no action has been taken to select a successful bidder to award the tender as the technical evaluation and tender committee has laid the background to purchase number plates at a higher cost instead of looking for better quality number plates at a lower cost, informed sources said.
This new technology is primarily used for access control and to provide real-time vehicle location information. The system consists of hardware components in the form of the RFID tags themselves, roadside RFID readers/ transmitters and a central computer system as well as software in the form of applications to interpret the RFID information.
The new system will also help the MTD to digitise records and keep track of any vehicle on the road, a senior official of the Transport Ministry said. RFID uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. The tags contain electronically stored information.
The RFID stickers have technology similar to smart cards and can be encoded with vehicle and/ or driver information which is read by an RFID reader unit using radio waves, generally from several metres away.
This will enable the reader to get basic information of the vehicle such as the registration number and the chassis number and further information could be obtained from the MTD, he said.
The department will ensure that no privacy laws will be breached and it has the sole authority to release information to law enforcement authorities and other relevant institutions in accordance with the rule of law of the country, he said.
A radio frequency identification system is to be introduced for new number plates which will help police to detect vehicular movements in traffic management, security and would be a more efficient way of gathering and disbursing information, realtime which will save money and the use of human resources.
The fresh tender issued by the Cabinet Procurement Committee on behalf of the MTD inviting bids from prospective bidders for the supply of at least 30,000 number plates and similar number of RFID stickers closed on April 18.