KATHMANDU, Aug 15: Department of Transport Management (DoTM) has claimed that smart license applications backlog will be cleared within three months.
An official of the department told Republica that its supplier has already delivered 'mass printer' at its office.
Prem Kumar Singh, director of DoTM, said it would talk around 10 days for installation of the printer. "As the printer can print 500 smart licenses per hour, we are hopeful of printing all pending licenses soon," Singh added.
DoTM had awarded the tender to supply and install mass printer to Indian firm Madras Security Printers. The two parties had signed contract agreement on April 30. As per the contract, the printer was supposed to be delivered by July.
According to Singh, the department plans to make optimum use of the mass printer so that applicants get driving license at the earliest. "We plan to use it for 10 to 12 hours per day," Singh added.
More than 500,000 applicants are waiting for smart driving license. The department gets around 7,000 new applicants every day. The applications had been piling up at the department, as capacity of existing printers was far lower compared to demand for driving licenses.
The Indian firm will also be responsible for supplying one million units of smart cards along with the printer, according to the contract document. “The Indian company will supply cards in two different phases. In the first phase, it will supply 400,000 cards while remaining 600,000 cards will be delivered in the second phase,” he added. According to Singh, the company will supply 400,000 cards within a week.
As applications for driving licenses piled up, the DoTM had roped in a local firm to print smart driving licenses. However, it severed contract with the firm as driving licenses printed by it failed to meet the specified quality and chose to procure a mass printer instead.At present, the department is printing about 2,200 to 3,000 cards on a daily basis. It had started distributing smart driving licenses from December, 2015.