KATHMANDU: Driving licenses will now have QR codes instead of electronic chips.
With the Security Printing Center (SPC) under the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology selected to print driving licenses, the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) has decided to use QR codes instead of electronic chips. “Since the SPC doesn’t have the infrastructure to print cards with electronic chips, we have decided to use QR codes instead,” Keshav Khatiwada, the chief of the information technology section at the DoTM, told MeroAuto.
The licenses, currently being printed by Madras Security Printers, are embedded with electronic chips. The DoTM has signed a new agreement with the SPC to print three million driving licenses.
According to Khatiwada, personal details of drivers will now be stored in QR codes. He added that the new licenses will lack four features: the chip itself, a clear window, a DOVID (Diffractive Optically Variable Image Device) and ultraviolet elements. There have been complaints that the chips embedded in the currently issued smart licenses are low quality and tend to come off.
Khatiwada said that some three million applicants are awaiting their driving licenses. “Once the SPC starts printing, the waiting period will be reduced significantly. It can print 1,500 licenses per hour,” he added.
He, however, added that some technical issues are yet to be resolved. “The SPC will tell us by mid-July whether it can print licenses as per our specifications. Once we hear from them, printing will begin from the first month of the new fiscal year,” Khatiwada added.
Printing licenses within the country will prevent foreign exchange spending, said Khatiwada. “It will also shorten the procurement process and also reduce costs,” he added.
