KARACHI, July 8: Registration of vehicles and tax payment facility will be provided at the district level in the province under a computerisation project to be launched by the ministry of excise and taxation this year. Presently, the facility is available at the divisional level in Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana, Sukkur and Mirpurkhas.

Motor Vehicle Registration (MVR) Director Shoaib Siddiqui told Dawn on Tuesday that the registration facility at the district level would not only facilitate the people in the interior but will also ease rush on registration and fee payment counters at the MVR head office at Karachi.

The department registered 203,697 vehicles of all types during 2007-08 against 187,854 vehicles during last year, marking eight per cent increase. The maximum increase of 43 per cent was recorded in registration of commercial vehicles at 11,569 against 8,087 during 2006-07. The substantial increase in transport charges due to high petrol prices has forced commercial companies to purchase their own vehicles for transportation of goods instead of relying on transport companies.

The registration of motorcycles went up by 18 per cent at 132,145 against 112,213 last year. The increase is due to advent of Chinese bike makers in the market in a big way.

The only decline was witnessed in registration of private cars at 60,007 against 69,547 last year, marking 14 per decrease. The reason is strict leasing condition by banks as well as decline in import of vehicles due to rise in customs duty.

Another scheme to be launched this year is computerisation of infrastructure cess and professional tax and to link them with main computers of Customs and Income Tax department in Karachi. The professional tax is charged from professionals, who pay income tax. The computerisation will help the department to bring more people under the tax net. It will also help in generating more revenue for the government.

Another scheme is to computerise the property tax network on the province basis. It will help the department to maintain a record of properties on the Taluka level and collect tax on all units.

Another scheme is for computerisation of excise duty and hotel tax, which would help the department to keep a record of all licence issued for import of liquor and excise duty collected on the same. It would make the licensing system fast and transparent.

There is a plan to computerise the entire record of vehicle registration which would help in quickly retrieve vehicle registration details required for some inquiry by the authorities. An additional floor will be acquired at the Civic Centre building in Karachi to redesign and expand the motor vehicle registration counters and provide a waiting area to provide maximum facilitation to the taxpayers.