New Designs Revealed For Car Number Plates

The first lot of the new dual code plates (special numbers) will be released in an open auction to be held on December 9, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said in a statement.

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The first round of auction will feature 10 single, dual, triple, quadruple and quintuple digit plates of the Code AA namely: 7, 10, 12, 100, 333, 786, 1000, 8888, 77777 and 55555.

The dual code plates will be released only through open auctions, the statement said.

Those interested in the (regular) plate bearing the Dubai brand in black colour can have their vehicle plates replaced at cost of Dhs35 for short plates and Dhs50 for long plates. Those opting for the coloured Dubai brand plate will need to pay a fee of Dhs400, it added.

“The new design of vehicle number plates is clear and easy to read from a distance,” said Mattar Al Tayer, director-general and chairman of the RTA.

“It is composed of three elements: The word Dubai (brand), number and code. The RTA would start replacing the existing plates of light vehicles by the newly designed plates as of February 2018.

“The replacement will be gradual and in lots according to a time chart to be announced in future,” he added.

The RTA regularly holds auctions for special VIP number plates. In October, the authority said it raised Dh24.8m in its 96th edition of the licence plate auction, which saw 80 distinct plates go under the hammer.

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A previous auction in May saw Dh2.9m raised from the auction of a single number plate.

In October last year, a Dubai-based Indian businessman also bought the D5 number plate for Dh33m in what was described as the biggest auction in the RTA’s history.

“The new initiative underlines RTA’s keenness to satisfy the needs of customers aspiring to own distinctive number plates, especially as the stock of single-code distinctive plates is about to be exhausted,” said Al Tayer.

The Department of Transport Management (DoTM) has restarted the scheme to replace hand-painted vehicle licence plates with embossed ones after putting it on hold for two months.

Owners of four- and three-wheelers will be able to get the new plates from Monday. According to the department, the licence plates will show the province number instead of letters denoting the zone where the vehicle was registered.

Last August, the department started installing the digital registration plates on automobiles belonging to the government and diplomatic missions. But the distribution process shut down after the parliamentary Development Committee ordered the government to put the province numbers instead of the name of the zone on them.

“The number plates will now show the province number instead of the name of the zone,” said Tok Raj Pandey, spokesperson for the DoTM, adding that the installation process would start from Province 3.

Vehicle owners can obtain the new licence plates by filling out a form online by going to the department’s official webpage.

“However, they will have to make a trip to the department’s office in Ekantakuna, Lalitpur to make payment,” Pandey said.

“We have launched the distribution process on a trial basis.

The new licence plates will be made mandatory for all vehicles soon.”

The licence plate for a heavy four-wheeler costs Rs3,600. Car licence plates cost Rs3,200, and auto rickshaw and other three-wheeler licence plates cost Rs2,900. The price of a two-wheeler licence plate is Rs2,500.

Pandey said registration plates bearing the province number would be replaced with plates showing the name of the province after the government determines the names of all seven provinces. “Vehicle owners will have to pay an extra charge to get new number plates showing the name of the province.”

According to the DoTM, a microchip is installed in the embossed number plates which will allow authorities to trace the whereabouts of automobiles. This is expected to be of particular help during emergencies.

Towards this end, the department will install Radio Frequency Identification Centres at the five main entrances into the Kathmandu Valley and major cities elsewhere in the country.

The department has awarded the contract to manufacture the number plates to Tiger IT, a joint venture of US and Bangladesh IT companies.

The plan to launch embossed number plates was included in the Three-Year Interim Plan 2007-10, but it lay in limbo due to delays in conducting proper studies.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had also intervened in the project following a complaint regarding irregularities in 2010.

The project stalled for almost a decade before a private firm was hired to import the necessary equipment.