“Impressive” proposals received for CRG plates – Harmon

Almost one year after Government announced that it would be registering all State-owned vehicles with Co-operative Republic of Guyana (CRG) number plates, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon has stated that Government was still in the process of appointing a contractor.
Harmon told media operatives at the post-Cabinet briefing on Thursday that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has had about four or five consultations and was expected to have another in the coming weeks. He noted that when that was completed, a decision would be taken on who would be selected to carry out the project.

“We are at that stage now, where we are at the point of selecting a contractor for the job,” he stated, adding that his Administration is keeping an open mind since it did not want to shut anyone out.
On this note, the Minister of State disclosed that the proposals Government has been receiving were quite impressive.
“Companies are coming forward and some of them are making some impressive reports on the number plates and the linkage with our smart city programme and things of that nature… So apart from the plates, there is a security dimension which we want to ensure that it all ties in,” he stated.
While the Minister did not give much information about these contractors, it was previously reported that both local and overseas companies have expressed interest in producing the number plates.
In July last year, Cabinet had approved the use of the CRG registration plates for State-owned vehicles. It also gave its no-objection for the issuance of these registration plates to be a centralised system.
The plates will carry special security features to stymie the use of falsely registered plates and enable easier tracking and identification. It is intended that all vehicles to be purchased for use by the State and State agencies will be fitted with the CRG registration plates.
Harmon had previously explained that the CRG plates would come into effect after some minor adjustments to the Motor Vehicle Regulations were completed.
“You will not have the situation where private number plates are on vehicles, and, therefore, they can be abused by persons and it is not clear to the public that these are Government vehicles,” he noted.
According to the Minister of State, this decision was taken in light of the challenges the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government had faced upon its assumption to office last year in recovering some of the assets, including vehicles, misappropriated by officials linked to the previous Administration.
“So, as soon as you see a CRG number plate, you will know that it is a State vehicle. So it is going to be easing and aiding in the identification of State-owned vehicles,” Harmon pointed out.
He added that the new system would also address those vehicles which belong to the State but persons were holding under private number plates.
“We will assign CRG numbers to those vehicles… Once you have a CRG registered vehicle, but you have a private number plate on it, then the Police can actually go and seize that vehicle from you, because it belongs to the State.”