The Sindh Excise and Taxation Department is flooded with registration applications for new Ajrak-design motorcycle number plates, with 60,000 applications being received during the first three weeks of July, with the hopes of crossing the 100,000 mark by the end of the month.
Another 90,000 four-wheeler plates, printed from 2022, remain uncollected as the vehicle owners do not want to collect these plates, due to unknown reasons.
Whereas, the significant surge in the number plates is attributed to the campaign launched by the Sindh Traffic police to crack down on unregistered motorcycles to strictly implement traffic rules and regulations.
Mandatory Requirements and Cost
These include the need to procure an original security-featured number plate (which is priced at Rs 1,850 for motorcycles and Rs 2,450 for automobiles) and a Motor Vehicle Record (MVR) smart card, whose standard cost is Rs 1,600.
As per Sindh Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Department officials, since the 1970s, the department has registered 9 million vehicles, including four and two-wheelers.
It has already issued over 2 million new security-featured number plates from 14 April 2022, including those with the Ajrak design.
Deadline to Get Number Plate
The E&T department has also pushed back the deadline for the number plates to August 14, and there is a possibility it may be pushed back further.
The National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) under the Ministry of Defence Production is processing the Karachi Safe City (KSC) project and vehicle number plates.
Additionally, the new-generation high-resolution cameras with world-class capability and equipment by the NRTC can read and identify special security features on the number plates.
Processing high numbers of applications
According to the excise department official, 295 owners of bikes submitted applications for number plates in May 2025 and 10,000 in June.
Between the first three weeks of July, the department received a total of 61,000 applications, and the number could exceed 100,000 by the end of July.
“How is it possible to complete the orders at one time?” he said.
“We can prepare 2,500 to 5,000 number plates of two and four wheelers per day. We have to deal with the number plates of old/backlog and new/advanced registered vehicles. Due to immense pressure, we are printing plates in Karachi, Lahore, and Haripur,” he added.
24/7 Working Centre
In order to address the backlog, a 24/7 centre was established recently at Boat Basin, while two centres are in Awami Markaz, Shahrah-e-Faisal, and Civic Centre, which operate from 9 am to 5 pm, closed on Saturdays and Sundays.
Most recently, an Sindh Excise and Taxation Department counter has been established at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) to facilitate facilities for journalists. It has been available to members of the KPC since Monday (today).
Facilities include payment of annual car tax and issuance of car and motorbike number plates.
The whole system will be organized in one or two years, and then there will be no requirement for new centres in the port city, officials added. The E&T department is also providing online facilities, like applying for number plates and taxes.
To address the staff shortage, the motor registration unit of the E&T Department has integrated approximately 200 employees from other departments. This includes staff from the property tax department, which had its responsibilities transferred to local bodies about a year ago.
The government has suspended professional tax and entertainment duty for one year to provide relief to citizens, and the personnel of these units have also been regraded into the motor registration (MR) wing of the E&T Department.