Malaysian firm grabs passport project

The government will issue work order to the IRIS Corporation Berhad of Malaysia, the lowest bidder, for supplying machine-readable passports (MRP) and machine-readable visas (MRV) in the country.
A total of 30 lakh MRPs and 1 lakh MRV will be collected from the Malaysian company during the next five years.
The authorities concerned will issue the work order to the IRIS Corporation Berhad after getting approval from the cabinet committee on purchase, sources in the home ministry said yesterday.
Md Abdus Sobhan Sikder, secretary in the home ministry, said that the proposal for supplying MRPs and MRVs was sent to the cabinet division for placing it at the meeting of the cabinet committee on purchase to be held soon.
“We are hoping that the authorities concerned will introduce the much-talked about MRP and MRV within the stipulated time of April this year,” he said.
According to the proposal, a total of Tk 964.53 crore will be given to the foreign company to collect 30 lakh MRPs and 1 lakh MRVs.
Brigadier General Refaetullah, project director for the introduction of the MRP and MRV project, yesterday told The Independent that the Malaysian company would supply passport booklets, set up necessary machineries and install software at the passport department for introducing the MRP and MRV to the people.
“We will issue the work order to the company for supplying MRP and MRV within a short time after getting approval from the Prime Minister,” he said.
It would take minimum 6 to 12 months to set up machines for issuing the MRP at the concerned offices of the department and the authority would not be able to issue MRP by April this year, apprehended a source in the home ministry.
As a result, many countries will simply not allow Bangladeshi passport holders after April, blocking export of manpower, the sources added.
As per the decision of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), all countries, including Bangladesh, must replace their manually processed passports with MRPs by April this year.
Sources in the passport department said that they would start issuing MRP first from the six divisional offices of the passport department out of a total of 34 offices.
The authority would issue MRPs first to diplomats, officials and other professionals, the sources added.
The government approved the Machine Readable Passport (MRP) project at the ECNEC meeting on March 19, 2009 and decided to involve the Bangladesh Army in the implementation of the project.
According to the project profile, the project will to start from July, 2009 and will end in June, 2014 costing Tk 283 crore.
Sources said that apprehending terrorist activities across the globe, many countries, including the US and the UK, would not accept any passport other than MRP in the near future.
Many countries including the USA, the UK, Malaysia, Canada, Australia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have already introduced MRP and MRV.                              
 
Courtesy of The Independent