E&T Dept cancels tender of number plates

Govt further decides to hand over preparation of number plates to NRTC

LAHORE: The Excise and Taxation (E&T) department has canceled the tender of computerised number plates due to legal and technical hurdles. The decision was made despite the provision of relief in rules and regulations by Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, to reuse expired tender.

The federal and provincial governments further decided to handover the preparation of number plates to National Radio Telecommunications Corporation (NRTC), an auxiliary department of the Federal Ministry of Defense Production.

NRTC officials, after meeting with Punjab Excise Minister Hafiz Mumtaz Ahmed and secretary excise minister, also indicated the reduction to Rs15-20, in already decided rates for number plate making with the former company.

Currently, more than 1.34 million car and motorcycle owners in the province do not have computerised number plates despite payment while, every day, thousands of customers are becoming vehicle owners. Due to the country's declining economic situation, especially the massive decline of more than 60% in motor vehicle businesses, the E&T department would likely face a loss of Rs10 to Rs12 billion from this year's fixed revenue target of Rs39 billion.

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The E&T department is facing hurdles for the last 18 months due to the unavailability of tender to prepare new computerised number plates. This is further affecting the government's image and credibility.

In an effort to provide facilities to the people and solve the following crisis sooner, the chief minister has allowed relaxation in PPRA rules after the summary of E&T department, with the consultation of the Finance department, P&D department and law department, to utilise the expired tender of a private company named Inbox.

However, the time limit exceeded for the already expired tender and the delayed summary approval made the efforts go in vain. Now a time period of approximately one and a half years is required for seeking new tenders or using a licensing option. Meanwhile, it is expected that the backlog of the number plates will increase to around three million.

Therefore, when the Federal Ministry of Defense Production expressed interest in taking tender for the manufacturing of computerised number plates, the provincial government agreed in principle.

Important matters have been already finalised after meetings between the E&T department and NRTC, which agreed upon the production of number plates on a lesser price of Rs15 Rs20 per pair.

The production of plates can start within three to four months after the agreement is finalised.

For the last several days, the provincial minister has been working to accelerate recovery by holding meetings in all regions. Sources added that the E&T department is facing the biggest deficit in motor vehicle tax. This year, the motor vehicle tax revenue target is set at Rs15.85 billion, out of which Rs4.13 billion has been achieved so far, but at the end of the financial year there is a loss expected of more than Rs4 billion. The reason behind the loss is the decline in the purchase and registration of new vehicles.

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The target of property tax is around Rs14.36 billion of which Rs5.31 billion has been collected so far and by the end of the financial year, there is a possibility of a loss of Rs1.5 billion, in this category.

Also, there is a low chance of revenue collection of motorways and highways taxation. The target of excise duty is Rs7.14 billion while only Rs0.61 billion has been collected so far and the maximum expected revenue is between Rs3-4 billion.

The target for professional tax lies around Rs1.8 billion, out of which Rs0.30 billion has been deposited so far. Reportedly, by the end of the financial year, the department will also face a loss of around Rs0.80 billion in this category.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, the minister said that the government did everything possible to prepare computerised number plates but then the legal and technical constraints made the matter more difficult. “After that, we have now begun a government consultation on the task of handing overwork to the Federal Ministry of Defense Production after they expressed interest to handle the manufacturing of number plates,” he added. “NRTC officials cut prices of car and motorcycle number plates.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2019.