Over 165,000 vehicle number plates yet to be issued, Transport Minister reveals
October 8, 2025 12:08 pm
Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation Bimal Ratnayake today (08) acknowledged in Parliament the on-going delay in the process of issuing new vehicle number plates.
Responding to a question, Minister Bimal Ratnayake stated that as of September 30, 2025, a total of 165,512 vehicle number plates had not yet been issued.
He further acknowledged that there is indeed a delay in the process of issuing the number plates.
“The issuance of number plates is more delayed than we initially planned. The new plates include seven special security features. We assigned the task of testing these features in Sri Lanka to the University of Moratuwa. They took around three months for the process. However, they were only able to verify six out of the seven features. Therefore, we had to carry out international testing for the seventh feature. That’s the main reason for this delay. The efforts we’ve taken to enhance the security level have also contributed to the delay as a result.”
Meanwhile, Minister of Transport Bimal Ratnayake stated that the issues surrounding the issuance of new driving licenses would be resolved by October 18.
