Passport book factory on cards
For the first time in the country, the government will set up a ‘passport booklet factory’, to introduce e-passports instead of machine-readable passports (MRP). This will help people get passports without a hassle. The Department of Immigration and Passport (DIP) has prepared a proposal to introduce e-passports. The project will cost the government Tk. 4,900 crore. The DIP has sent the proposal to the home ministry, seeking further steps in this regard, confirmed sources in both the ministries. According to the proposal, a passport booklet factory will be set up in Dhaka’s Uttara, where a six-storied printing building of the DIP is being built, the sources added.
As part of the proposed seven-year project, 3 crore e-passports would be made and distributed among the existing MRP owners in the country.
The director-general of DIP, Major-General Md Masud Rezwan, told The Independent that a tender–to introduce e-passports from April–will be floated, after getting the home ministry’s approval. “We will set up the required equipment at all 65 Bangladesh missions abroad, and 71 passport offices in the country. At the same time, we will set up 50 e-gates at as many immigration points at all international airports, seaports, and land ports in the country,” he added. “Of the 3 crore e-passports, we will import around 1 crore and produce 2 crore at the passport factory,” Rezwan said. “We will need US$ 14 to import an e-passport, while it will cost us US$ 8 to make one in the passport factory,” he claimed. “We will, ourselves, handle all types of security aspects, including the software, security features, and other content of the e-passport,” Rezwan added.
“Of the Tk. 4,900 crore project cost, Tk. 2,700 crore will be needed to produce the 3 crore booklets, and Tk. 2,200 crore to set up the equipment, machinery, software networking and the like,” he said. Sources said seven overseas companies have already shown interest in providing e-passport booklets under the BOOT (build, own, operate, transfer) system. The e-passport will have a microchip containing biometric information. The existing printed passport’s data page contains the owner’s name, date of birth, and other biographic information. According to sources, an e-passport will probably cost Tk. 6,000 to Tk. 8,000 and be valid for 10 years. Around 37 lakh MRPs were issued last year. DIP sources said they have issued 1.63 crore MRPs to date, since those were introduced in April 2010. At least 118 countries, including India (only for diplomats and officials), China, Malaysia, and UAE, have introduced e-passports.
