LAHORE: The Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control (ET&NC) has once again said that launch of the much-awaited smart card for registration of vehicles is linked to appointment of excise minister.
“We have completed our homework in this regard and are ready to start service any time,” said ET&NC Director General Akram Ashraf Gondal while talking to this scribe on Tuesday. Last year, it was announced that smart cards for vehicle registration would be issued in November 2017, but the project was delayed due to unknown reasons. Then it was announced that card would be issued in March 2018, but it was not issued.
Gondal was of the view that litigation by some parties, which took part in the bidding, delayed launch of the card. He said that initially the card would be issued to motorists showing interest in it. After transfer of the vehicle, the card would expire and a new card would be issued. “The project of ARC is complete. We requested the interim government to launch the card, but they refused and said the next government would start the project,” he said.
The DG was of the view that the Punjab government was planning to digitize the process of vehicle registration through this move. It will have added benefits over registration books, including its small size.
The cost of this smart card will be Rs500 or so, said Gondal and added that the card would carry features like vehicle owners’ name, CNIC/passport details, chassis number, registration number, date of registration, engine number, previous registration, token tax expiry date, number of cylinders, type of body, color of vehicle, maker’s name, class of vehicle, unladen weight, reg laden weight, tyre size, front axle, rear axle, other axle, year of manufacturing, seating capacity, horse power/CC and Assessed Annual Tax.
Former Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Shareef initially approved around four years ago in March 2015 and still awaits completion. The ARCs will remove and replace the hassle of keeping a registration book which wears out after a certain amount of time and is a major headache to carry it all times due to its size.
The new automated card will feature a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip which will help verify the card details and will also display expiry date of the token tax.
The Excise department issues around 2 million registration books every year where 1.6 million of them are issued for the newly registered vehicles. According to the bidding documents, the department has demanded that the interested parties should have the capability of printing 2 million cards per year, which seems to be the current demand for Pakistanis. Other main requirements included; counterfeit resistance, durability and the card’s ability to securely store the data for at least five years.
