Public Security Minister Tiran Alles is to cancel the Expression of Interest (EoI) pertaining to the issuance of e-Passports, and call for tenders.
The Cabinet has approved a memorandum submitted by the minister, to appoint a special technical evaluation committee and, considering the economic situation and need of the country, to call for new tenders.
An EOI was called for the issuance of ‘e-passports’, to which many applicants had complained to the Public Security Ministry regarding certain technical weaknesses in the EOI.
Accordingly, Minister Alles canceled the EOI and intends calling for tenders, in keeping with the normal procurement process.
A senior official of the Ministry said that more than 700,000 e-passports costing about US$ 15 million, would be issued annually.
He added that millions of Dollars had to be spent on the machines to issue e-passports and hence, it is not a viable option, due to its prohibitive cost.
Nirmanee Igalahewage