DMT outsources driving license printing to clear the massive backlog

The Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) has decided to outsource the printing of nearly 850,000 driving licences to the private sector with the aim of clearing the massive backlog of 900,000 licenses, DMT Commissioner General Nishantha Anuruddha Weerasinghe said.

The balance 50,000 cards are being printed at the DMT Werahera branch with limited machine capacity.  

He stated that the issuance of driving licenses has been delayed by several months due to the insufficient capacity of the printing machines at the department.

The department has taken over the drivers’ licence printing operations from the Sri Lanka Army with effect from September 1.

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on January 1, 2021 had taken measures to handover the task to Sri Lanka Army for two years.   

Driving licence issuance has been disrupted in 2022 due to the shortage of printing cards due to the US dollar crisis, he said adding that later action had been taken to import 1 million cards from Australia. 

However the printing of cards slowed down to 2000 per day at the Werahera MTD branch as a result of a breakdown of almost all printing machines except  two machines  which were in working condition, he revealed.   

The department has to outsource the printing to the private sector as it was not in a position to spend Rs. 200 million to purchase a printing machine at present, he stated

The DMT Commissioner General further revealed that an agreement has been reached to utilise the printing machines at the private firm that manages the department’s computer system.

He added that the said private firm has agreed to print driving licenses at a cost of Rs. 150 per licence card.

He further noted that 850,000 driving licences will be printed and issued to license holders through this third party. Only driving licenses that were not handed over to applicants previously will be issued within the next 6 to 7 months. (Bandula)