Premium number plates to be auctioned on June 29: Sharjeel

The auction of premium number plates will be carried out at a hotel on June 29.

Sindh Senior Minister for Information, Transport and Excise & Taxation Sharjeel Memon made this announcement on Saturday.

Officials said the auction of the premium number plates by the Sindh excise department will take place on June 29 at the Pearl Continental Hotel.

The excise minister said those who wished to participate in the auction could register now.

He explained that there would be an auction of premium number plates in the platinum, gold, and silver categories. Vehicle-manufacturing companies would also be invited to the auction ceremony, Memon said.

In a recent cabinet meeting, the excise and taxation minister had presented a proposal for introducing premium number plates for vehicles. Currently, the excise department offers three types of number plates: commercial, non-commercial, and motorcycle. In the fiscal year 2021-22, the department issued a total of 71,645 choice numbers, generating a revenue of Rs44 million from the choice number fee mechanism, he said.

Memon estimated that if even 10 per cent of the motoring public opted for personalised numbers, it could generate a revenue of Rs2 billion to Rs3 billion per year.

The premium number plates have unique features such as they are personalised property that could be inherited and transferable to another vehicle, they have CNIC-based registration, they are applicable to any private vehicle and they are reusable on any vehicle.

The platinum category offers customisable colour shades and it would be transferable to another CNIC against a prescribed fee. The platinum number plates have a maximum of three characters and a base price of Rs2 million. The gold number plates have a maximum of five characters and a base price of Rs1 million, whereas the silver number plates have a maximum of seven characters and a base price of Rs50,000.

The cabinet approved the proposal, which included auctioning off the premium number plates, following the example set by Dubai and other countries. Additionally, the proposal included bundle offers with up to 30 per cent discounts for families and companies. Officials said Memon also chaired a high-level meeting of the excise and taxation department on the premium number plates, in which it was decided to issue 10 premium numbers each in the three categories.

Memon also gathered information regarding property tax, professional tax and other taxes. He issued instructions to the excise and taxation authorities to meet the targets for property tax, professional tax and other taxes.

In the meeting, the senior minister was informed that show-cause notices had been issued to 82 officers of the excise department for not performing well in achieving the

targets.

He ordered suspension of the excise employees neglecting their duties along with other disciplinary actions.

The minister issued directives for implementing an online payment system to simplify the tax system.