By TRN Online, Kathmandu, Mar. 19: The electric passport is to be distributed at the earliest in Nepal.

The Passport Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has started preparations to distribute electronic passports in the current fiscal year 2077/78 BS.

Rajendra Pandey, Director of the department of the passports as well as the spokesperson said that Nepal is about to introduce an electronic passport by replacing the existing machine-readable passport.

He said, “The provision of Electronic chips and biometrics in electronic passports, along with the test (fingerprint) will provide double security system which makes it very reliable.”

As per the contract agreement, the design of the electric passport has been completed.

The process is underway to get the design approved by the Council of Ministers within this month.

The department has stated that the process of ordering the machine will move forward for the printing purpose as well.

IDEMIA Identity and Security France SAS have undertaken the contract for the printing of the electronic passports.

As per the agreement with the Government of Nepal, a total of 2 million per passport will be printed in an estimated three billion rupees of investment.

After the distribution of electronic passports, Nepali passengers carrying such passports will get the facility of international standard travel as well.

 In some international airports that have electronic doors, the door opens just by looking at the face of the passengers through a face sensor.

There is a provision that the person carrying the machine-readable passport (MRP) passport has to wait in line and proceed with the test on the machine. So, the electronic passport system will bring ease for international travel as well.

According to Pandey, the director of the department, electronic passports will reach among the general people when the department prints them itself.

Last year, the department invited bids for the printing of electronic passports, but the bids were canceled following the government's decision to set up a printing press.

However, after the delay in setting up the security printing press due to various reasons, the department itself had again called for bids to print the electronic passport on the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Accordingly, the department signed a formal agreement with the best company on December 23, 2020.