THE Land Transportation Office (LTO) will ask Congress for a P2.5 billion additional budget allocation to meet its target of producing and distributing 18 million motorcycle plates by 2022.
Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante, LTO chief, admitted over the public briefing “Laging Handa” that the agency’s plate-making plant has suffered operational setbacks because of the COVID-19 pandemic that caused the production backlog to swell.
He said that license plates for motorcycles acquired in 2017 or earlier cannot be manufactured and released to owners within the projected completion by 2022.
Galvante said only those who own newer bikes — from 2018 up — can expect to get their license plates, with three million pairs already completed and delivered to various LTO district offices in different regions.
“For 2017 or earlier, we aim to manufacture (the plates) a little later, but because of the sheer volume, by 2022 we need to complete 18 million plates. With the time we have, this is no longer doable,” Galvante said.
The solution he offered is to farm out the production of the 2017 and older plates to private contractors but said it will cost the government P2.5 billion.
The LTO chief said the backlog was due to the failure of engineers from Germany and Netherlands to install the robotic equipment that was supposed to speed up the production process.
“We were hoping the get additional equipment up and running but when the pandemic broke out, the engineers who were supposed to install it could not come. That’s what caused the delay,” he said.
However, he expressed confidence the backlog can be picked up by private plate makers at a cost of P2.5 billion.
“If we are given the needed funds, I believe we can deliver it because it will not be the LTO plant only that will be fabricating the plates but also whoever would win the supply contract,” he said.
Galvante also assured that no such problem is expected for four-wheel vehicles or other makes — again, except for owners of older models.
“For the four-wheeled vehicles, we do not see that many problems because we are almost current, except for those applying for replacement plates or those who are still using the old white-and-green license plates because we make those side by side with motorcycle plates,” he said.
