LAHORE: The Punjab Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control department has suspended biometric verification for the registration and transfer of vehicles and motorcycles for three months across the province due to issues arising in the shift from the old manual registration system to biometric.
The system has come to a halt because of complications regarding registration and transfer of older vehicles and motorcycles. The older manual registration system was completely replaced with the biometric registration system for older vehicles and motorcycles in April of this year. However, the records for older vehicles and motorcycles had not been computerised, thus leading to delays in registration.
The biometric system will now reportedly be put on halt for three months from 11th September to 11th December to facilitate the registration of older vehicles and motorcycles. A total of 177,000 registrations are expected to be made, which will generate PKR15 billion for the department.
The biometric system was introduced by the department on 11th January with the aim to computerise Pakistan’s 50 year old records of vehicles and motorcycles. It will be active again in January 2023; to be reintroduced in phases with full implementation reported to be complete by June 2023.
The reintroduction of the manual system is expected to lead to an uptick in sales across the second-hand market for vehicles and motorcycles.
