Sri Lanka’s Transport Minister Bimal Rathnayake has acknowledged a significant delay in issuing new vehicle number plates, with over 165,000 plates yet to be distributed as of the end of September.
Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday (08), the Minister said that 165,512 vehicle owners are still awaiting their plates, blaming the delay on extended security testing processes.
“The issuance is more delayed than we initially planned. The new number plates include seven advanced security features. While the University of Moratuwa was tasked with verifying them locally, they could only confirm six. We had to carry out international testing for the seventh, which caused further delays,” he said.
The enhanced security measures are aimed at reducing fraud and improving traceability, but the Minister admitted the process had not moved as swiftly as expected.
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