Vehicle registration: Electronic filing system to be introduced to mitigate corruption

ICT Excise and Taxation dept to computerise around 0.5 million files in pilot project.

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to end the presence of touts and facilitate vehicle owners, the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration’s Excise and Taxation Department (ETD) has decided to introduce an electronic filing system for vehicles.

Under the project, a contract which was recently awarded to a local firm, around 0.5 million hard copies of vehicle registration flies at the ETD will be computerised.

Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Amir Ahmed Ali told The Express Tribune that it was a trial project aimed at ending corrupt practices in the department.

“It is a pilot project which will be completed within two years, after which the ICT Revenue Department’s records will also be computerised,” he said.

An ETD official said the project was advertised some five months ago. At the time, four companies had shown an interest. The project was eventually awarded to the lowest bidder.

“The contract was given under build-operate-transfer terms. The firm will develop software and complete the electronic registrations, after which ownership of the project will be handed over to the ETD,” said the official.



He said the project’s objective was to prevent incidents of file theft by touts in collusion with ETD officials. “The missing files are then used by the touts to validate the registration of stolen vehicles,” he added.

Ali said the ETD had reserved an entire floor from its office building in Sector F-8 to facilitate the project’s completion. The general public and officials unrelated to the project will not be permitted to access the floor’s premises, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2013.