The lawmakers have now been proved right as the French company has failed to hand over the first lot of MRPs by Friday, when the 70-day deadline ended for the security printer to make the delivery as per an agreement signed with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on August 27.[break]
A senior official at MoFA said the French security printer has not delivered the passports as of Monday. "We have not heard about the arrival of the passport consignment," the official said on condition of anonymity.
But Deputy Spokesperson at MoFA Harish Chandra Ghimire said, “As the ministry has remained closed [since Friday for Tihar], we will know the status of the delivery only on Tuesday when offices open.”
Repeated attempts to get the comments of Oberthur´s local representatives, Siddhartha Pandey, failed. He neither received repeated phone calls nor responded to short text messages.
The security printer had won the multi-million dollar tender that has landed in deep controversy.
The company, under the agreement, was required to supply within the deadline 400,000 passports, including 350,000 ordinary status ones, in a first lot, besides completing installation of a passport personalization system. The installation work is currently underway, according to Ghimire.
The security printer´s delay in delivery of the passports is subject to penalty. As per the agreement, Oberthur Technologies will have to pay 0.05 percent of the contract price per day in penalty for the delay in delivery. The contract price of the passports that the French company is to supply Nepal in the next five years is US $ 3.59 per booklet. Nepal will purchase a minimum of 3.4 million MRPs and a maximum of 4.6 million by November 24, 2015.
Officials at MoFA had told media after signing the agreement with the French company that the ministry would start issuing the MRPs to the public within 15 days after receiving the first lot.
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