KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 — The Road Transport Department (JPJ) will be implementing the e-bidding system for vehicle number plates from April 15.

Its director-general Datuk Seri Shaharuddin Khalid said with the system, bidders no longer need to come to the JPJ office to submit their bids and was a great way to celebrate JPJ’s 73rd anniversary which this year carries the theme ‘Digitalisation towards Integrity’.

"e-bidding will start with the  FC series... meaning the numbers will be tendered online. It is also not limited to the state or territory denoting the alphabets for instance Putrajaya... Malaysians can bid from anywhere,” he told Bernama after appearing as a guest on Bernama News Channel’s (Astro channel 502) Nine 11 programme here today.

Last year, FB 1 fetched the top bid at RM660,000 probably because the bidder had a thing for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States.

In 2016, the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar took the F1 number plate with a bid of RM836,660 apart from W1N in 2014 and WWW1 in 2012 with bids of RM748,000 and RM520,000 respectively.

JPJ hauled in RM280 million via the bidding process for number plates in 2017 while revenue through normal purchase was RM137 million.

Another project that JPJ will be offering soon is simulators for learner drivers.

JPJ’s 73rd anniversary celebration will be held at its headquarters in Putrajaya on April 15. — Bernama