The Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) says vehicle number plate printing is expected to officially resume on or before June 10, following the completion of a new procurement process and the installation of printing machinery at its Werahera premises.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the department said the company awarded the contract has already installed the required equipment at DMT’s Werahera facility and is in the final stages of preparation to begin operations.
The contract for printing and supplying vehicle number plates has been awarded to South Asian Technologies (Pvt) Ltd for a period of five years, following technical evaluations and procurement approvals. The official agreement was signed on March 10, with contractual conditions requiring printing operations to commence within three months of the agreement date — placing the June 10 deadline at the upper edge of the contractual window.
The clarification was issued in response to newspaper reports claiming that the printing process had been suspended for nearly a year due to tender-related issues and that around 400,000 number plates had accumulated in backlog. The DMT did not directly confirm or refute the backlog figure but framed its statement as a procedural update on the resumption timetable.
Vehicle owners completing registration formalities have faced delays in receiving the metal plates required for road use since the previous contractor’s supply lapsed. The Werahera facility — a long-standing DMT printing site — has retained the institutional capacity for plate production, with the new five-year contract designed to restore continuous output.
The number-plate timeline is one of several vehicle-policy issues in motion this week, alongside allegations that 4,000 vehicle import LCs were rushed through before the President’s 50% import surcharge gazette on May 15.
