Kathmandu, March 24: The project to print 1.2 million smart driving licenses is running far behind schedule, with only about 28,000 cards printed in the past five months.
Under an agreement, the Department of Transport Management assigned the printing job to the Security Printing Centre, which must produce 1.2 million licenses within six months. With only one month left before the deadline, the centre has delivered just 28,000 licenses so far.
Officials say nearly 2.8 million licenses remain to be printed. Because of the delay, thousands of service seekers who have already passed their driving tests continue to carry only temporary receipts instead of the actual license cards.
The problem began after a violent protest known as the Gen Z movement on September 8 and 9 last year. During the unrest, an angry crowd set fire to the transport department office in Minbhawan. The blaze destroyed old printing machines, servers, and other technical equipment used to print licenses.
After losing its own printing capacity, the department handed the full responsibility to the Security Printing Centre as a long-term solution. The centre, located in Panauti of Kavrepalanchok district, started printing licenses on November 7 last year after a formal agreement was signed on October 28.
At the launch, former minister for communication and information technology Jagadish Kharel pressed the button to begin the printing process. Officials then announced a plan to print 100,000 cards each month during the first three months and complete the remaining 900,000 within the next three months.
That target has clearly slipped.
According to the centre’s executive director, Devraj Dhungana, delays occurred mainly due to the import and procurement of raw materials required for the smart cards. He claims the printing speed has now increased sharply.
Initially, the centre printed only about 500 cards a day. Production has now reached around 25,000 cards daily. Dhungana said that in the past five days alone, about 117,000 licenses have been printed.
He added that the centre plans to print between 25,000 and 50,000 cards each day to complete the work before the deadline of April 24.
Meanwhile, director Keshav Khatiwada of the Department of Transport Management said the printing centre has informed the department that it can now produce up to 50,000 cards per day after mobilising additional staff and improving the system.
Work is currently running in two shifts, with the possibility of adding a third shift if necessary to meet the deadline.
Officials say the availability of data is also important for printing. The department has already sent data for about 200,000 licenses to the printing centre, while another 400,000 records are ready for processing.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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