1st December 2021, Kathmandu
The printing of the driving license (smart license), postponed for six months, is about to start. The printing work will start after the French company Selp has provided 1.4 million copies of the card as per the agreement.
The Department of Transportation had been printing only much-needed driving licenses due to a lack of cards. The department has stated that the printing work will be intensified after receiving 1.4 million copies of the card.
The director-general of the department, Namaraj Ghimire, said, ‘The card has arrived. We will test the printing sample.’ Printing will start next week. It has been said that priority will be given to seven lakh driving licenses left to be printed for about two years. According to him, the daily demand can be printed according to the daily schedule.
Even if the printing starts, the service recipients will not get the driving license immediately. The new machine introduced by the department one and a half years ago can print up to 450 driving licenses per hour.
Nine thousand driving licenses are printed in three phases for 21 hours daily. Accordingly, two lakhs fifty thousand copies are printed per month. It will take about three months to print seven lakh copies.
The department has stated that it plans to print in three shifts. There is a new demand for around 5,000 driving licenses daily. After the implementation of a smart driving license in 2072 BS, printing work has been slowing down.
The department has started a shortage of cards as the global tender process has been delayed.