As per an agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Oberthur was required to deliver the first lot of MRPs by November 5, 2010. But Oberthurs Technologies had defaulted on the deadline.[break]
Under the terms and conditions of the agreement inked on August 27, 2010, the French security printer was supposed to supply the first consignment of 400,000 MRPs within 70 days of singing the agreement. The global security printer had also agreed to pay the MoFA 0.05 percent of the total project cost on a daily basis on failing to deliver the passports on time. The cost of the first phase of the project is US$ 1,436,000.
A MoFA source confirmed that Oberthur Technologies was fined for failing to deliver the passports before the deadline. This is the second instance of the French security printer being fined by the Nepal government for breaching deadline. Earlier in 2009, Nepal Rastra Bank had fined the firm for failing to supply bank notes, causing shortage of fresh notes during Dashain festival.
Oberthur bagged the multi-million US dollar MRP printing and supply project in August 2010 overcoming many controversies and hurdles. The company has agreed to supply 3.4 million to 4.6 million copies of MRPs in the next five years at the cost of US$ 3.5 per booklet. The total cost of the project will range between US$ 12.20 million and US$ 16.51.
Nepal started issuing MRPs from January 26, 2010, eight months after the initial deadline of April 1, 2010 set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a UN body.
* Corrected. Earlier, we mistakenly published the fine as Rs. 3.2 million.
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