- ICAO presses govt over MRP deadline
- More parties vie to supply hi-tech passports
- Get MRPs thru govt-to-govt deal: Cabinet
- PAC directs govt to revive bidding process of MRPs
- 400,000 passports to go to waste
"The cabinet decision yesterday (Thursday) essentially means the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should make preparations to that effect," the source told myrepublica.com, clarifying Thursday´s cabinet decision on procuring the MRPs. [break]
The clarification from the source close to the prime minister came a day after the cabinet directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to introduce the machine readable passports through a bilateral agreement and in a cost-effective manner. The cabinet had not mentioned the name of any specific country for getting the high-tech passports printed.
Briefing media about the cabinet directive in the absence of the government spokesperson, Home Minister Bhim Rawal on Thursday said that the cabinet returned to MoFA the latter´s proposal to award the MRP printing work to India. India has offered to supply the passports at 200 Indian rupees a piece.
Meanwhile, A Manickam, Joint-Secretary at the Consular, Passport and Visa Division of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, is arriving in Kathmandu on Sunday for talks on the MRP issue, said the source close to the prime minister.
The source further said that officials from MoFA will discuss details of the passport procurement with Manickam. The officials will then present a proposal based on the discussions with Manickam to the cabinet.
"The cabinet will then give a final go-ahead to MoFA to make the procurement," the source further said of the process that will be involved in procuring the machine readable passports from the southern neighbor.
The government is gearing up to introduce machine readable passports as per a commitment made to the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO), a UN agency, to go for the high-tech passports from April 1.
Any non-machine readable passports to be issued after April 1 will not be accepted for international travel though such passports issued by March 31 will still be valid till November 24, 2015.
Meanwhile, sources at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers said that the government is considering furnishing clarifications to the Public Accounts Committee of parliament over the legal difficulty in implementing the latter´s directive to revive canceled international bidding for the MRP project. MoFA had quashed the bidding process for the MRP project last December, citing technical reasons.
"There is no provision in the Public Procurement Act to revive a canceled bid," said the source at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, "So we will furnish our clarifications to the parliamentary committee after consulting the attorney general."
kiran@myrepublica.com
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