Thematic number plates soon

LAHORE 

The Excise and Taxation (E&T) Punjab Department has decided to launch thematic number plates for vehicles, The News has learnt. 

The move is aimed to promote local culture, heritage and traditions through themes engraved on the number plates of vehicles, sources said adding these plates will be first of its kind in the history of Pakistan.

Sources at the E&T Punjab told The News that the E&T Department would launch thematic number plate’s project from coming September 2016 for which legal and departmental work had also been completed for this new project.

Sources added that in the first phase of the project, the department would sign an agreement with a new private company and the responsibility of that company would be to design the theme as per customer’s requirement. Later, the company will also be liable to prepare its marketing strategy, its demand and its financial plan as well. 

Any individual can contact that company and tell them about his or her theme design for the number plates and after that company will work further for its demand, pricing and advertisement, sources added. 

The Excise and Taxation Department, in collaboration with the chief minister’ committee, has constituted a committee where themes of number plates will be submitted and they will issue the approval for the new themes and designs of the number plates. The committee members will ensure all the aspects so that no theme can be controversial at any religious or sectarian level. 

Talking to The News, Additional Director General E&T Masood-ul-Haq said the department had already floated an advertisement Expression of Interest in which they had asked the companies to come up with new themes' ideas with a proper financial and marketing strategy. 

Additional DG Excise Masood-ul-Haq added that new themes' number- plates would help a lot in increasing the revenue of Excise and Taxation Department as commercial sector would really be interested in this new project. He said for instant if there was a food chain having more than hundred vehicles then they could come and ask the company to arrange the number plates with their own company’s themes for their vehicles and their numbers would be like “Company Name – 1” etc.  Additional DG Masood said commercial sector would really be hit by this new scheme and there would be a new toll also for marketing the purpose via these themes' number-plates.

On a query regarding the financial plan of the project, he said project would be given to any company via an open tender and that private company would have its share from the total cost of each number plate. 

Director General E&T Punjab Akram Ashraf Gondal told The News that it would be a first ever project in the country and now there would be plates with various themes which would help promote various aspects including historic places, country’s famous places, famous events' heroes of the country. 

Akram Ashraf said this new theme number plate project would increase the revenue of the department besides probability of private number plates would be minimised completely.