RIYADH, 4 October 2004 — At a license plate auction to be held in Al-Nakheel district north of the city, prices are expected to soar. The reason is that there are three special license plates with “MMM” and the numbers 111, 222, 333 included in the auction.
In fact, the price for MMM 222 is estimated to be as high as a quarter of a million riyals. Expectations are based on the earlier auctions at which license plate LLL 111 and LLL 666 each sold for SR210,000.
Prices are also expected to set records as the auction coincides with the introduction of 2005 model cars into the Saudi market.
The auction committee has decided that the auction will begin at SR50,000 for certain plates. The auction will take place after Maghreb and in Ramadan, the auction will be after all evening prayers.
The Traffic Department is investigating the possibility of entrusting the sale of license plates to the private sector in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance so that companies as well as private establishments will be allowed to organize auctions.
The department said that in case of the private sector being entrusted with the auctions, the Traffic Department’s role would be supervisory.
