Driving licence issue to be resolved by Oct. 18 : Minister

October 8, 2025 at 12:26 PM

Minister of Transport Bimal Rathnayake says the shortage of driving licence cards will be resolved by 18th October.

Addressing Parliament today, Minister Rathnayake acknowledged a shortage and crisis related to driving licences. 

“The same group has been involved in the driving licence business for nearly 28 years without the knowledge of the Motor Traffic Department. Financial misuse and corruption have taken place on a large scale due to this. Even former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa tried to resolve this using the military, and it still didn’t work out. As such, we intervened by halting this and introducing a new system,” he said. 

Briefing the Parliament on the measures taken by the government, Minister Bimal Rathnayake said the installation of Driving licence printing machines has been underway since yesterday.

He further revealed that the government is currently in possession of 800,000 driving licence cards and expects to start distribution from 18th October. 

The Transport Minister further said that the government intends to order another 01 million cards prior to the existing cards finishing. 

Minister Rathnayake added that the new stock of cards will be printed by the government through the Motor Traffic Department, which he said allows the government to save Rs. 167 per card during printing. (Newswire)