Tender soon for machine readable passport, visa

The government is likely to invite international tender for making Machine Readable Passport (MRP) and Machine Readable Visa (MRV) within a month for  introducing them by April 30 of 2010 as per instruction of the international civil aviation organisation (ICAO).
Newly appointed project director of ‘Introduction of Machine Readable Passport (MRP) and Machine Readable Visa (MRV),’ Brigadier General Refayet Ullah, an officer of the Armed Forces Division (AFD), would invite the tender after joining his post this week, sources said.
A high official of the home ministry yesterday told The Independent on condition of anonymity that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already approved the sample of the MRP and MRV, which were prepared by a technical expert team of Bangladesh army, sources added.
“We have also appointed six more officers for the project. Of them, AFD officer Lt Col Mostafisur Rahman and an official of passport department Md Rafi have been appointed as deputy project directors (DPDs) while Md Shah Alam of Special Branch of Police and Nazrul Islam of passport department have been  appointed as assistant project directors to implement the project within the stipulated timeframe,” he said.
He also said that Tk 46 crore has been allocated for the fiscal (2009-2010) to implement the project and more allocation will be made, if needed.
Director General of passport department Abdur Rob Hawlader told this correspondent that necessary documents for inviting tender to make MRP and MRV have been prepared by a foreign consultant firm.
“Bangladeshi nationals will not be able to go abroad if we do not introduce the MRP and MRV by April 30 next year,” he said.
Sources said that the Bangladesh Army possesses the equipment and experienced manpower required to make the devices of MRPs and MRVs.
An eight-member technical committee was formed headed by the director general (DG) of Passport Directorate on April 16 last year, to prepare a working plan for  coordination between the Army and the Passport Directorate for implementing the project.
Members of the committee are joint secretary (Political, Home Ministry), Professor Dr AM Lutful Kabir of BUET, Brigadier-General Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury, Lieutenant Colonel Mustafizur Rahman, Md Shah Alam of Special Branch of police, senior systems analyst TM Barkatullah and a representative of the government printing press.
“The government approved the project at ECNEC meeting on March 19, 2007 when it was decided to include the Bangladesh Army in the implementation of the project.
According to the project profile, the project will start from July 2009 and will end in June 2014, at a cost of Tk 283 crore.
Sources said apprehending terrorist activities across the globe, many countries including the US and the UK, would not accept any passports other than MRPs in the near future.
The international civil aviation organisation (ICAO) instructed all its 181 member-countries to introduce MRP and MRV by 2010.
Many countries including the USA, the UK, Malaysia, Canada, Australia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have already introduced MRPs and MRVs. 
 
Courtesy of The Independent