PESHAWAR, Oct 16: Non-availability of computerized number plates has been causing problems for vehicle owners in Peshawar for the last eight months.

The five-year plan, which was started in 1998 to computerise number plates of all vehicles in the NWFP, has run into snags and a large number of vehicles are still without the computerized number plates.

An official claimed that since the departure of the contractor who was supplying number plates, vehicle owners were facing problems. The vehicle owners have already paid the charges for computerized registration numbers, but they have not received the number plates.

The Excise and Taxation Department, which has been collecting fee for the issuance of computerized number plates, asks the vehicle owners to collect their number plate after three months but the department is short of number plates, official sources said.

Fee for the change of number plate of a car is Rs500, for motorbikes Rs300 and Rs795 for a truck, the sources added.

“Some of the vehicle owners who were issued computerized numbers have starting using unauthorized plates due to non-provision of computerized plates,” said an official of the department.

He stated that a large number of vehicle owners visited his office daily to inquire about the number plates but the officials offered lame excuses for the delay.

The five-year contract was signed with a private firm, Cyber Graphic Technical System Limited.

Under the contract, the firm was to supply 375,000 computerized number plates and was supposed to link different districts with a main computer server. The firm was also supposed to provide hardware and software to the excise department.

The contractor has sued the government for not fulfilling some of the conditions agreed in the contract. He had demanded increase in the cost of plate as he fell short of money, a source told Dawn.

“The plan which was supposed to eradicate all the irregularities and was aimed at computerising the system by the year 2003 remains incomplete,” sources told Dawn.

There are still over 100,000 vehicles in the NWFP which are without computerized number plates.