By Alexandria Dennise San Juan
Thousands of vehicle license plates are expected to be distributed within the second half of the year as the Land Transportation Office (LTO) acquired plate making machines to boost the capacity of the government to manufacture plates on its own.
At least seven units of Manual Embossing Machines, which were delivered on February, were inspected by officials of the Department of Transportation led by Secretary Arthur Tugade last week at the LTO Motor Vehicle License Plate Facility.
The 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 for the procurement of Motor Vehicle and Motorcyle license plates to address the backlog from July 2016 up to present.
Based on the contract, the winning bidder stipulated five manual plate making machines, but the contractor added two more units for temporary use at no additional cost.
Another unit of Automated Embossing Machine is also expected to be delivered in July and be operational by August.
After the inspection, LTO chief Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante said that there are still areas to be improved for faster and more efficient production of license plates.
“I assure that these necessary adjustments and changes will be implemented,” Galvante said.
In a statement, the DOTr said that the seven manual units are capable of producing 22,000 plates per day at full production, while the automated machine can produce 12,000 plates a day.