Approach other govts, too, on MRPs: PAC

KATHMANDU, Feb 14: At a time when the government is making preparations to award India with a deal to supply machine readable passports to Nepal, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the parliament on Sunday directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explore whether other countries are also interested in supplying the passports.



The committee issued the directive, hoping that such a move would invite competition among aspiring countries to supply MRPs at a cheaper price. [break]



The committee´s directive came on the day the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a six-member technical team to New Delhi to assess the Indian offer to supply the passports at an indicative price of US$ 4 apiece.



"This committee directs that other governments be approached," the committee said in its unanimous decision.



The committee took up the issue 45 days before the April-1 deadline for introducing the high-tech passports as required by the International Civil Aviation Organization approaches.



During the committee meeting Sunday morning, lawmakers, including Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani, criticized the ministry for not working on time to meet the deadline for MRPs.



They also sought clarifications from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sujata Koirala, Foreign Secretary Madan Kumar Bhattarai and other MoFA officials on why India is being favored for the project.



"We are only studying the Indian offer. We are yet to take any decision and the decision on the matter will be taken after evaluating the Indian offer," Koirala told the committee.



The committee members also expressed concern over Nepal heading to miss the deadline and sought clarifications from Koirala and MoFA officials.



The ministry canceled an international bidding in last December and has remained undecided on its next step since then. Lohani questioned the grounds on which the bidding was quashed.



Replying to questions of the lawmakers, Koirala said the government would introduce MRPs through a bilateral deal with another country. But some lawmakers were of the view that MRPs should be given to a third country in view of national security.



But Bikal Poudel, a member of the technical team on MRP, defended that there is no need to worry about national security as Indian will only provide passport books and other security related works on MRPs will be done in Nepal.



The committee also directed the ministry to furnish all documents related to MRPs and the bidding process within seven days.

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