KATHMANDU: The Department of Transport Management (DoTM) is preparing to stop printing more than 311,000 driving licenses that have less than one year of validity remaining.
The licenses are part of the department’s backlog of around 2.9 million unprinted licenses. Since many applicants paid the required fees nearly four years ago but did not receive their licenses on time, most of these cards now have less than a year left before renewal.
DoTM Director Keshav Khatiwada said printing such licenses would not be practical, as they would have to be renewed and printed again within a year. However, applicants who specifically request their license will still be able to receive it, even if only a few days of validity remain.
According to the department, printing the 311,000 licenses would cost around Rs 66 million. Each license costs Rs 220.54, including VAT, to produce. The department believes skipping the printing process will save public funds and reduce the need for users to obtain a new card shortly after receiving it.
Instead, affected license holders will receive a new card with a 10-year validity after completing the renewal process. An official decision on the proposal has not yet been made.
Khatiwada said around 65 percent of the affected license holders are estimated to be working abroad. Many are unlikely to collect their licenses before they expire, making immediate printing less useful.
The move means some applicants may have to renew their licenses before receiving the physical card. Those who fail to renew by the end of the current fiscal year will also face higher renewal fees, as most provinces are increasing driving license charges from the next fiscal year. Current renewal fees range from Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,000, depending on the license category. From mid-July, the fees will increase to between Rs 3,000 and Rs 6,000.
The department said it cannot provide any fee waiver because driving license fees are determined by provincial governments. Provinces, however, may choose to offer relief, although none has announced such a decision.
Meanwhile, DoTM said it has significantly reduced the license printing backlog. Of the 2.9 million pending licenses, about 2.39 million had been printed as of Thursday, while another 174,168 are in the final stage of production.
The department has already dispatched around 2.2 million printed licenses to transport offices across the country, and about 35 percent have been collected by license holders. It also plans to hand over responsibility for license printing to provincial governments from the next fiscal year.
