On Wednesday, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament summoned Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sujata Koirala and Foreign Secretary Madan Bhattarai to appear before it to submit clarifications why the bidding for the MRP project was canceled in December. [break]
"We have summoned them to appear before the committee on Sunday morning for clarifications over the cancellation of the process," said Ram Krishna Yadav, chairperson of the PAC.
In December, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs aborted international bidding for the MRP project that aimed to replace four million traditional passports with high-tech modern passports - MRP - by April 1, 2010. The project was floated as per the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
The ministry had cited technical reasons for canceling the controversial bidding though it had already short-listed four international security printing firms. The pre-qualification of the firms was questioned as it was not done as per criteria set out in the pre-qualification document.
The cancellation of the bidding means Nepal will miss the April 1 deadline set by ICAO.
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