Achi news desk-
The Sindh government has decided to auction “Premium Number Plates” for vehicles to generate revenue from the preference number fee mechanism which would be “heritable and transferable”.
The provincial cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Thursday approved several important decisions, including introduction of Premium Number Plates for vehicles, allocating Rs1.5 billion for procurement of MRI System for Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) Sukkur , extending the deployment of Rangers in the Karachi division for another six months, and releasing Rs10.189 billion for payment of dues of retired civil servants.
The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, councillors, Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, and others.
During the meeting, Sindh Excise and Taxation Minister Sharjeel Memon presented a proposal to the cabinet members to introduce Premium Number Plates for vehicles.
Currently, the department offers three types of number plates, including commercial, non-commercial vehicles and motorcycles.
In the year 2021-22, the department issued a total of 71,645 preference numbers, generating revenue of Rs44 million from the preference number fee mechanism, according to an official release.
Memon estimated that if even 10% of the motoring public chose personal preference numbers, it could generate revenue of Rs2 to Rs3 billion a year.
Premium number plates have unique features, such as personal property which can be inherited, which can be transferred to another vehicle, registration based on a Computerized National Identity Card, which is applicable to any private vehicle, which can be reused on any vehicle, shades color that can be customized for platinum numbers (except prescribed colors ), and transferable to another CNIC for a specified fee.
There are three categories of premium number plates: Platinum, Gold and Silver:
- ‘Platinum’ number plates have a maximum of three characters and a base price of Rs2 million.
- ‘Gold’ number plates have a maximum of five characters and a base price of Rs1 million
- ‘Silver’ number plates have a maximum of seven characters and a base price of Rs50,000.
The cabinet approved the proposal, which included auctioning off the number plates based on choice. In addition, the offer included bundle offers with up to 30% discounts for families and companies.
In 2020, Sindh residents had two facilities to register their vehicles with their CNIC number, while the provincial government also launched camera-readable vehicle registration number plates with several latest security features.
