Dubai
Marking the centennial of the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and his legacy of generosity, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) on Saturday hosted its 100th open auction for number plates, allocating the proceeds of six distinguished numbers for charity.
The six distinctive number plates, representing key milestones in the life of Shaikh Zayed bearing Code (Z), fetched Dh1.723 million at the auction that generated a total of Dh20 million.
The auction offered 80 distinctive licence plates bearing 2, 3, 4 and five digits with Codes J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U and X.
The auction also offered for the first time the fancied dual-code number plate AA88, which went for 1.8 million.
The six historical Zayed-themed plates are Z1918, Z1946, Z1968, Z68, Z1971 and Z2018.
Z1918 has a symbolic reference to the birth year of Shaikh Zayed.
Starting at the nominal price of Dh2,000, the number saw frenzied bidding, selling for Dh140,000, 70 times its original value.
Z1946 refers to the year when Shaikh Zayed took the reins of power at Al Ain city. It is the city that had suffered a scarcity of water, but he turned it into an oasis town. The number went for Dh31,000.
Z1968 and Z68 refer to the first of the series of meetings between Shaikh Zayed and the late Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum to unify the emirates leading to the formation of the UAE.
Z1968 was bagged for Dh35,000 and Z68 went for Dh1.4 million.
Z1971, which was sold for Dh60,000, symbolises the year when the federation of the UAE was formed consisting of seven emirates.
The UAE celebrates its 47th National Day this year on December 2.
Z2018 represents the Centenary of Zayed, which is the Year of Zayed dedicated to the celebration of Shaikh Zayed’s greatness and achievements. The number was sold for Dh57,000.
