The Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) is developing a new system to issue personalised vehicle number plates bearing custom names or characters, officials told the Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on April 23.
DMT representatives said obstacles remain because of the department’s outdated IT system. Once that system is upgraded, the personalised plate project could be launched within six months, they told the committee.
The department separately disclosed figures on its existing premium plate reservation scheme, which has operated since 2023. Specific number plates are priced between Rs. 100,000 and Rs. 1 million, with 1,185 individuals choosing the Rs. 1 million premium tier. The programme has been a meaningful revenue line for the department, though no cumulative income figure was publicly released at the committee sitting.
The proposed personalised plate regime would go further than the current reservation scheme, allowing vehicle owners to select custom names or character combinations rather than only specific number sequences.
Officials did not disclose a pricing structure for personalised plates or whether the new system would replace, supplement or merge with the premium reservation tier. Implementation will depend on the DMT’s broader IT modernisation, which has been in planning for multiple financial years and will also underpin the department’s wider digitisation programme.
COPF, chaired by SJB MP Harsha de Silva, has been scrutinising Motor Traffic operations in recent sessions, and separately flagged procedural gaps in the department’s handling of fleet and driver databases.
