Bangladesh News

Bangladesh’s hope of meeting the international deadline to introduce machine-readable passport (MRP) by April, 2010 looks bleak and the authorities are now not even thinking about the 2014 deadline for introducing e-passports.

The government’s frequent change of mind has led to delays in launching the MRP project in the past. Shifting of stance of the Awami League (AL) government regarding it seems to delay further the implementation of the MRP project.

Sources in the Department of Immigration and Passport said the government, which was about to appoint German HJP Consulting Firm to initiate the MRP project, is now considering involvement of local firms.

However, the authorities concerned are hopeful about meeting the MRP deadline. Sources in the home ministry said they would try to meet the approaching MRP deadline first and then think about the e-passport deadline.

Since the MRP would not be applicable for international travels after 2014, many fear the fund to be spent for MRP would eventually be a waste. Then MRP will be replaced by e-passport, a combined paper and electronic identity document that uses biometrics to authenticate the identity of travellers.

“We are not thinking about e-passport system at the moment. We will introduce e-passport when the deadline comes,” State Minister for Home Affairs Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj told The Daily Star.

He said initially the government would go for the machine-readable passports as they have already moved ahead with the project.

However, no tender has been floated in this regard.

Abdur Rob Hawlader, director general (DG) of the Department of Immigration and Passport, said nothing has been finalised about the MRP project. “We hope to finalise it in next July,” he told The Daily Star.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) instructed all its 181 member countries to introduce e-passport by 2014 to avoid hassles during international travel. But the government is paying little heed to it.

The US, UK, Malaysia, Canada, Australia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are among the 75 countries who have already introduced e-passports and many more are to follow in the coming years.

“If the government fails to take initiative soon the country will face the same problem, which it is now facing with MRP,” said a home ministry official involved in the MRP project. The official said the government could easily go for e-passport with help from ICAO.

“The government does not need huge money for e-passport. What we need is a quick plan and initiative,” the official added.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on March 19 approved Tk 283 crore for the MRP project and machine-readable visas (MRV).

Bangladesh citizens’ access to international manpower markets and all types of visas would be at risk if the government fails to introduce the MRP by April 2010.

The government expects to start issuing machine-readable passports in 2010 and deliver up to 1.85 crore passports by 2014, the year for introducing e-passports.

The budget of Tk 283 crore for MRP is in stark contrast to a failed procurement scheme spearheaded in 2006 by the then state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar who sought over Tk 750 crore for it. Babar undertook the scheme without the Ecnec approval. The then cabinet also did not approve the project as it had various legal loopholes and also because the home ministry failed to give a breakdown of the project cost.

At present, 1.5 crore people of the country have international passport and 12 lakh new passports are issued annually. Planning ministry sources said the government would earn around Tk 9,000 crore of revenue in the next five years after the MRP project is implemented.

Of the member nations, 115 including India and Pakistan have so far issued MRPs to their citizens. Bangladesh is a member of the ICAO, a global forum for civil aviation and a specialised United Nations agency that codifies principles and techniques of international aviation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport.

During the last caretaker government regime, the home ministry revived the project and took technical help of International Organisation on Migration (IOM), a body of the United Nations that deals with immigration issues. It helps different countries in introducing MRP and MRV and has been working in Bangladesh since 2004. The caretaker government eventually decided to leave the project for the next elected government.

5The Awami League (AL) government of 1996-2001 had taken, for the first time, an initiative for introducing MRP in 1998.