Personalised number plates soon

SEREMBAN: Owners of all types of vehicles, except taxis, will be allowed to bid for personalised registration numbers (NPP) from as early as next year.

Road Transport Department (JPJ) director-general Datuk Solah Mat Hassan said the move was to allow them to own unique licence plates and for the authorities to earn additional revenue.

He said owners of motorcycles as well as commercial vehicles such as lorries and buses would be allowed to apply for NPPs as long as they were prepared to pay for the privilege.

“The NPP is one of the new initiatives by the JPJ to members of the public. We will be able to introduce it once our computer system is upgraded and new security features are incorporated,” he said.

JPJ was given RM282mil to upgrade its system as part of the Government Transformation Programme.

The move will, among others, allow Malaysians to renew their licence and road tax online.

Solah said the bidding exercise would be divided into two categories exclusive and non-exclusive.

“A non-exclusive NPP can belong to more than one individual while an exclusive one will only belong to one individual.”

He added that the JPJ had yet to decide the number of characters that would be allowed for both exclusive and non-exclusive NPPs.

The non-exclusive NPPs, he said, would be cheaper and offered via a tender exercise.

“As for exclusive NPPs, the JPJ will determine how much it would cost the bidder.

“The bidder will then have the right for the NPP from numbers 1 to 9999,” he said, adding that the JPJ had yet to finalise the cost for exclusive or non-exclusive NPPs.

The JPJ had previously proposed allowing Malaysians to have NPPs based on their names or personal details as in some developed countries.

Big corporations and private businesses would also be allowed to have such unique numbers which they could use for their fleet of vehicles.

Solah said existing vehicle owners would also be able to apply for the NPPs.

“The individual will have to go through an interchange process where the existing registration number will be transferred to the new vehicle if he intends to use the NPP for his existing vehicle,” he said.