Sunday: 31 October 2010:
Distinguished plate number auction raises Dh 25m in Abu Dhabi
The 23rd Distinguished Plate Number Auction organized by ADP in collaboration with Emirates Auction and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank support yesterday, Saturday at the Emirates Palace Hotel, raised more than Dh 25m.
Brigadier Salim Ali Al Shamsi, Director of ADP Privatization and Resources Development said "The single number (4) got the highest price in the auction. It was sold for Dh10,150,000. It was followed by the two-digit number (44) fetched Dh3m and the two-digit number (90) sold for Dh 2m".
"The auction began with the fifth and sixth categories numbers which were 500 numbers in total. Of these there were 6 three-digit numbers, and the others were varying between four-digit and five-digit numbers. The auction was scheduled to be concluded next Friday", added Al Shamsi.
"The numbers were selected="true" according to the requests received on the web site of the auction. Different numbers were made available to meet the public needs.
"The auction revenue would finance charity projects and victims of road accidents in accordance with directives of our police leadership", added Al Shamsi.
Abdullah Mattar Al Manaai, CEO of Emirates Auction said "There was a remarkable increase in the numbers of bidders which indicted the popularity of these auctions and also due to diversified types of offered numbers and innovative methods of marketing".
He lauded ADP support as a result of which the Company had created a new electronic system of auction for vehicle plate numbers, where many international agencies made use of this experiment.
Participants in the auction lauded the auction transparency and high standard of organization. Khalid Mubarak Al Kindi, one of the bidders said "The auction was characterized by professionalism, clarity and accuracy without exaggerated prices. Therefore, people buy numbers without any psychological pressure".
Other bidders, including Mubarak Hamad Al Mari and Ahmed Al Rumaithi lauded the auction transparency and clarity of numbers on gigantic monitors inside the hall.