e-passport, visa from next April
May 19, 2009
The government will introduce machine-readable passport (MRP) and machine-readable visa (MRV) from next April, home ministry officials told bdnews24.com on Monday. The Department of Immigration and Passport, with the help of army, will start working on the project in July, for which the government has already sanctioned Tk 2.83 crore. All Bangladesh passports issued from this July will be machine-readable and no one will be allowed to travel without such a document after next April. “Tender will be floated next month,” director general of Immigration and Passport department Md Abdur Rab Howladar told bdnews24.com.
Md Anwar Hossain, deputy secretary at the home ministry, said International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has stipulated that all countries introduce MRP and MRV by April 2010. However, due to lack of budget and equipment the e-passport could not be lunched, he added.
“We also have a plan to re-use the machineries and equipment used for making national ID cards by the Election Commission,” he added.
The project is scheduled to complete in 2014.
An ECNEC meeting, chaired by prime minister Sheikh Hasina on May 19, gave the go-ahead to the project for issuing 1.74 crore regular and 10 lakh urgent passports in just five years.
Each passport will cost Tk 5,000 in one-off fee. The government expects to get Tk 9,200 crore in fees.
The project will spend Tk 1.95 crore in the first year.
Officials say the manual passports have been easy to forge since these are hand-written and the photo and signature are pasted manually.
The absence of a database, they say, also creates scope for issuance of more than one passport for one person. This is a key reason why Bangladesh nationals often face problems with their passports.
A much-talked about project that created controversy during the BNP-led 2001-6 government had never been placed before the ECNEC. There were alleged attempts to bypass the ECNEC and get the project cleared through the cabinet purchase committee.
After the ECNEC meeting, planning minister A K Khandaker told reporters, “This has compelled us to take up this project as quickly as possible.”
Source: bdnews24
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