Costly ‘e-passports’ project suspended, fresh tenders to be called

By Norman Palihawadane

Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles said that he had suspended a Notice of Expression of Interest (EOI) related to the issuance of electronic passports or ‘e-Passports’ and call for tenders considering its high cost.

Minister Alles told The Island that the Cabient had apporoved his proposal for appointing a special technical evaluation committee for related activities and accordingly to call for a new tender taking into account the current economic situation and needs of the country.

The EOI had been called in relation to the issuance of ‘e-passport’, and many of the applicants had complained to the Ministry of Public Security regarding certain technical deficiencies in the notification.

Minister Alles said that he canceled the relevant call for bids and called for fresh tenders through the normal procurement process.

Minister Alles said that more than 700,000 e-passports should be issued per year and it will cost about 15 million US dollars.

He said that millions of dollars had to be spent on the machines used to issue the passports and also mentioned that the issuance of e-passports has become difficult due to the high cost.