The printing of number plates for motor vehicles has been handed over to a new company, with the relevant agreement signed today (10).

The signing ceremony was attended by the Commissioner General of the Department of Motor Traffic, the Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, Highways and Urban Development, and members of the board of directors of the relevant private company.

Speaking at the event, Commissioner General of Motor Traffic Kamal Amarasinghe stated that, according to the agreement, the company is required to commence printing number plates within three months.

He further stated that it took a long time to finalize this agreement and accordingly, after submitting it to the Cabinet and obtaining its approval, this agreement was signed on the advice of the Attorney General.

However, he said several rounds of preliminary discussions had been held with the company, and it is expected that the work will begin within about two months.

The Commissioner General also stated that the project is valued at approximately Rs. 3 billion and has been awarded to the company for a period of five years, starting from today.

Furthermore, the Commissioner General said:

‘‘We will begin this work at our office premises in Werahera, which has the most spacious facilities. We have stopped printing number plates for nearly ten months. Therefore, it will take some time to complete all the pending work. However, we expect to commence operations as soon as possible, around the end of April or the beginning of May. It will not take the full three months. With our support, the company has already begun preliminary work at our Werahera premises. During today’s discussion, the company also informed us that arrangements have been made to import the necessary printing machines and that the process will be completed within three weeks.’’