This means Nepal is going to miss the April 1, 2010 deadline set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for introducing machine readable passports. Officials at the ministry said that the ministry would soon begin a fresh bidding process for the 72-million US dollar project.[break]
"The bidding process has been cancelled due to technical reasons," Durga Prasad Bhattarai, spokesperson of the ministry, told Republica on Thursday, without elaborating the reasons.
The ministry took the decision to this effect a day before the final date for submission of applications by four firms shortlisted for the bidding expired.
The bidding process was called into question after a committee headed by Chief of Protocol Mohan Krishna Shrestha shortlisted four international firms - Oberthur Technologies (France), Gemalto (Finland), Sagon Security Printers (France) and 3M Techno–ogy (Singapore) – in an allegedly non-transparent manner. Three of these companies did not even meet the criteria set in the Pre-Qualification Document, a source said.
The ministry had even denied information in this connection to Republica despite an application under the Right to Information Act.
"The short-listed companies raised some technical issues on which they did not agree during a pre-bidding meeting," said Foreign Secretary Dr Madan Bhattarai, elaborating on the reason for aborting the bidding process.
Some of the firms questioned the provision in the bid document that required use of patented polycarbonate in the machine readable passports, said a source. Chief of Protocol Shrestha had told Republica on Wednesday that the provision for using polycarbonate in machine readable passports had stalled the bidding process.
"It is mandatory to introduce machine readable passports. A new process [of bidding] will begin. But we are yet to decide the time and modality for such a process," said Spokesperson Bhattarai.
The ministry had planned to replace around four million already-issued conventional passports with machine readable passports under the first phase of the project. Though Nepal knew of the ICAO deadline well in advance, the bidding process for introducing machine readable passports was initiated only in September last year.
Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, ICAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations whose mandate is to ensure the safe, efficient and orderly evolution of international civil aviation. The need for machine readable passports was felt in a bid to control the misuse of passports with fake photographs and hand-written particulars.
Will it affect foreign travel?
Nepalis who already have passports will not have any problem traveling abroad even after April 1. But those who get their passports issued after March 31 will face problems in travel abroad.
"The already-issued passports and those to be issued by March 31 will be valid till November 24, 2015," said Foreign Secretary Bhattarai, "There is no need to panic."
But those who get new passports of the conventional type after March 31 may have problems while travelling abroad, officials said.
Bhattarai said that the ministry has a good stock of conventional passports, suggesting that people make out their passports before April 1.
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