– The printing of vehicle number plates, which had been suspended for more than a year, resumed today at the Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) premises in Werahera under the patronage of Deputy Minister of Transport and Highways Prasanna Gunasena.

Speaking at the launch, the Deputy Minister said the suspension was caused by delays in procurement procedures related to awarding the printing contract to a private company. He noted that the required technical evaluations and approval processes had since been completed, enabling printing operations to recommence. Gunasena said the suspension had resulted in a backlog of approximately 600,000 vehicle number plates. However, following the awarding of the contract, the pending number has been reduced to around 150,000 plates, which the contracted company has been instructed to print and issue.

He expressed confidence that the remaining backlog would be cleared within the next few months and assured that the system is now capable of meeting daily demand and issuing number plates for newly registered vehicles without delay.

The Deputy Minister also announced the introduction of an SMS notification system through which vehicle owners will be informed once their number plates have been printed and dispatched.