The Land Transportation Office (LTO) has acquired plate-making machines to boost the Philippine government’s capacity to manufacture vehicle license plates on its own.
Seven manual embossing machines were delivered to the LTO Motor Vehicle License Plate Facility on February 26.
The plate-making machines are part of the contract of Trojan Computer Forms Manufacturing Corporation and JH. Tonnjes E.A.S.T. GmbH Joint Venture, which won the contract to procure motor vehicle and motorcycle license plates to address the backlog from July 2016 and beyond.
The contract stipulates only five manual plate-making machines, but the contractor added two more for temporary use at no additional cost, the Department of Transportation (DOTr), LTO’s mother agency, said in a statement.
At full production, the seven manual embossing machines can produce 22,000 plates per day. The machines have been calibrated and are already operational.
One automated embossing machine will also be delivered in July, to become operational in August. It has a production capacity of 12,000 plates per day.
“Ayaw na nating maulit ‘yung problema sa plaka. Kaya naman mas maigi kung tayo na lang mismo ang mag-manufacture kaysa nagpapagawa pa abroad na nagpapatagal lang ng proseso [We don’t want a repeat of the problem with the plates. This is why it’s better for us to manufacture them ourselves instead of have it made abroad which only leads to delays. With the proper equipment and training, kaya naman natin [we can do it],” Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade, who inspected the plate-making facility on April 6, said.
“May mga nakita pa po na areas for improvement si Secretary Tugade kanina sa inspection, at sisiguraduhin ko po na lahat iyon ay maisasagawa at maitatama natin [Secretary Tugade still saw areas for improvement during the inspection, and I will make sure these are carried out and corrected],” LTO chief Edgar Galvante said.
