Motor cyclists in RakhineState’s Sittwe have complained that the registration fees set by the State governmentas ‘exorbitant’.

The State’s Road Transport AdministrationDepartment has been accepting registration of motorcycles having noregistration previously.

The owners are required topresent household registration, national identity cards, recommendationdocuments from the ward, the police and the traffic police in applying forregistration of their motorbikes.

The Road TransportAdministration Department has set different fees depending on the types of themachines.

The fees include the costsfor all documents necessary in the registration process.

A Thai-made Dream 125 motorbike would cost K350,000, a Wave 100 K150,000 and a Click 150 about K400,000for registration, according to new license rates announced by the department.

A motor cycle dealer inSittwe, U Than, said the rates were too high for the basic people and wouldlike the department to lower the rates as much as possible.

“For those who can’t affordto pay for the registration, they can’t do anything with the bike even thoughthey own the machine,” he said.

“For those who own a Chinabrand for which they have paid K450,000 or K500,000, the registration fees ofK150,000 or K200,000 will not be affordable. This is the situation currentlyhappening. That is why we want the fees to reduce as much as possible,” said UThan.

The owners will be affordableonly if the fees are lower, according to a Kaman national fromSittwe, U Hla Myint.

“When we go to Ka-Nya-Na (theroad transport administration department), they demand K2 lakhs or K2 and halflakhs. How can some people afford,” he said.

“So, they do not register their bikes and getarrested by traffic police.   We wouldlike to ask some leniency for those people. This is our expectation,” he said.

A combined team of military councilpersonnel, traffic police and local police have been increasingly conductingchecks on driving license and vehicle license in every town in the entireRakhine State since August and more arrests made.

If the team found the oneswith expired license during the inspection, they were told to pay penalties of upto about K100,000, it is learnt.