Vanity plates project still stagnant after two years
Not a single plate has been issued since the project was launched in 2017
PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE:
Not a single customised number plate has been issued under the vanity number plates’ project that was launched back in 2017, the Express Tribune has learnt.
The vanity project was to provide the public with a legal avenue to obtain customised license plates. The contract of the project was awarded to SI Global back in 2017 for five years.
Interestingly, not a single number plate has been issued to any vehicle user to this date. Even the designs of the three categories, under which the number plates had to be issued, have not yet been approved. Furthermore, the Excise Taxation and Narcotics Control (ET&NC) department was yet to even notify the committee which was to approve the designs.
Sources said SI Global and the excise department were not interested in proceeding with the project for their own reasons. A senior official of the excise department revealed that it has never appreciated this project right from its conception. He said the project was the brainchild of Shehbaz Sharif’s close associate Salman Sufi, who was later made director general of the Strategic Reform Unit. He said this project was run on political pressure otherwise there was no room to accommodate such an idea in our culture.
He said if the project had started issuing out number plates such as “Punjab 1, Khan 1” to generate revenue, it would make it impossible for security agencies to track which number was original and which number was fake. He was of the view that after a long struggle, of the police, traffic police and excise officials, citizens have been persuaded to use original plates. These customised plates would create confusion for security agencies to check which customised plate was genuine and which was fake.
He said these plates also had a tendency to provoke parochialism and an unwarranted disparity.
Another official, involved in the bidding of the vanity plates contract, said the company too was not interested in proceeding with the contract for its own benefit. He said the company, back in the day when the financial bid was open for this contract, realised that they have offered less than half the amount of their only rival in this contract.
By offering such low rates, they did manage to win the contract, but the company realised that the terms were not feasible. He said the company had raised their concerns over the matter with the department, but by then, nothing could have been done. He said both cannot back out of this contract either for legal or financial reasons so this is the best solution.
Not a single customised number plate has been issued under the vanity number plates’ project that was launched back in 2017, the Express Tribune has learnt.
The vanity project was to provide the public with a legal avenue to obtain customised license plates. The contract of the project was awarded to SI Global back in 2017 for five years.
Interestingly, not a single number plate has been issued to any vehicle user to this date. Even the designs of the three categories, under which the number plates had to be issued, have not yet been approved. Furthermore, the Excise Taxation and Narcotics Control (ET&NC) department was yet to even notify the committee which was to approve the designs.
Sources said SI Global and the excise department were not interested in proceeding with the project for their own reasons. A senior official of the excise department revealed that it has never appreciated this project right from its conception. He said the project was the brainchild of Shehbaz Sharif’s close associate Salman Sufi, who was later made director general of the Strategic Reform Unit. He said this project was run on political pressure otherwise there was no room to accommodate such an idea in our culture.
He said if the project had started issuing out number plates such as “Punjab 1, Khan 1” to generate revenue, it would make it impossible for security agencies to track which number was original and which number was fake. He was of the view that after a long struggle, of the police, traffic police and excise officials, citizens have been persuaded to use original plates. These customised plates would create confusion for security agencies to check which customised plate was genuine and which was fake.
He said these plates also had a tendency to provoke parochialism and an unwarranted disparity.
Another official, involved in the bidding of the vanity plates contract, said the company too was not interested in proceeding with the contract for its own benefit. He said the company, back in the day when the financial bid was open for this contract, realised that they have offered less than half the amount of their only rival in this contract.
By offering such low rates, they did manage to win the contract, but the company realised that the terms were not feasible. He said the company had raised their concerns over the matter with the department, but by then, nothing could have been done. He said both cannot back out of this contract either for legal or financial reasons so this is the best solution.