Machine readable passport project gets go-ahead

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FE Report
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) Thursday approved the much-awaited machine-readable passport (MRP) and visa project and decided in principal to appoint army to complete the scheme, officials said.
"The Prime Minister has asked the home ministry to consider possibility of appointing the army to prepare the MRP and visa," a top government official said.
Presided over by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the ECNEC meeting Thursday in the city approved Tk 3.50 billion for MRP and visa project of the home ministry.
Under the project, the Department of Immigration and Passport under the home ministry will hand over some 18.4 million MRP to the people by the year 2014.
Quoting the Prime Minister, a senior home ministry official said as the Bangladesh army has had experience in preparing the national identity card and voters lists, they could make the MRP and visas easily.
In addition, since the army has adequate equipment, utilised in preparing the national ID card and voters lists, both the costs and time could be saved in completing the work, he said.
The official said the army had submitted a proposal for the MRP and visa project, which could now be reexamined, aimed at appointing them for completing the task.
Home ministry said the government would earn around Tk 90 billion in the next five years with the implementation of the project.
Bangladesh will have to introduce MRP to comply with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) requirements by April 2010.
If the country fails to become a member of ICAO, Bangladesh citizens' access to international manpower markets as well as obtaining all types of visas would be difficult.
Some 115 out of 187 member nations of the ICAO, including India and Pakistan, have so far issued machine-readable passports to their citizens.
Earlier in 2006, the home ministry sent a Tk 15.61 billion project for procurement of equipment for machine-readable passport, visa and national identity cards to the cabinet committee on government purchase.
Of the amount, about Tk 7.50 billion was set aside for MRP and visa. The proposal was sent to the purchase committee without the approval of the ECNEC to award the tender to a particular company. But the purchase committee rejected the proposal at that time.
During the caretaker government in 2007-2008, the home ministry revived the project but eventually decided to leave the project for the next elected government to undertake.
The ECNEC Thursday also approved three other projects at the total cost of Tk 5.47 billion.