The 2021 licence plates.
POND ISLAND--Motorists in the country will be able to pay for and pick up their 2021 licence plates as of the first working day of the new year, as the plates are already in the country.
Authorities have decided to use the number plates ordered for 2020, which had been delayed, for 2021. The original contractor who won the bid for the plates had pulled out of the project, but the issue authorities faced earlier this year was the effects of the COVID-19 epidemic on the opening of companies in China, as the company that had been handling the plates was not allowed to be open due to the epidemic.
Motorists who had paid their 2020 motor vehicle tax were allowed to use their existing plates without repercussions and eventually were allowed to obtain a sticker.
Receiver Minerva Gumbs said the plates are already in the country and will be ready for motorists on the first working day of 2021. Apart from government plates, plates ordered and received are 15,000 M plates; 9,999 P plates; 3,100 R plates; 300 B plates; 550 Taxi plates; 240 T plates; 90 G plates; 3,900 V plates; 390 Z plates; and 900 MF plates.
The licence plates are adorned with an image of the statue of William Henry Bell Jr. at the Cole Bay Hill lookout point on A.J.C. Brouwer Road. The plates are blue in colour and have “The Friendly Island” written at the top and “St. Maarten” at the bottom. A total of 32,988 sets of 2020 number plates and 900 single plates for motorbikes were ordered for motorists on August 14, 2019.
By law the deadline for motorists to pay their motor vehicle tax is February 28 of each year. The plates cost NAf. 12.50 for all types of vehicles and NAf. 7.50 for motorbikes. Motorists with number plates M, P, SXM, MR (ministers) and PAR (parliament) will pay NAf. 275 in motor vehicle tax for gasoline-operated vehicles and NAf. 750 for diesel-fuel-operated ones.
Motorists with R plates will pay NAf. 300 for gasoline-operated vehicles and NAf. 750 for diesel-fuel-operated vehicles.
Taxis, BUS, G (group) and T (tour buses with 35 passengers or less) plates cost NAf. 275 for gasoline-operated vehicles and NAf. 550 for diesel fuel-operated vehicles.
Vehicles with V and Z plates that weigh more than 3,500kg will pay NAf. 1,250 for gasoline- or diesel-fuel-operated vehicles. Vehicles with V plates that weigh less than 3,500kg will pay NAf. 275 for gasoline-operated vehicles and NAf. 750 for diesel-fuel-operated vehicles.
Persons with MF (motorbike) plates will pay NAf. 200 and those with MF (mopeds) will pay NAf. 50 in motor vehicle tax.
A valid insurance document and inspection card will be needed for payment to be processed. Motor vehicle tax payment can be made at the Receiver’s Office cashiers at the Government Building on Pond Island.
