New passport stock to arrive on Saturday

The government announced yesterday that a new stock of passports is expected to arrive on Saturday, with the issuance of new passports set to begin next Monday.

Cabinet Spokesman, Minister Vijitha Herath stated during this week’s Cabinet media briefing that the government had convened a special Cabinet meeting on October 11 to address the ongoing passport shortage.

He explained that the previous Cabinet had approved a tender for the purchase of 750,000 passports under the new e-passport system from a new supplier.

However, the supplier failed to deliver the passports as promised.

“To resolve the issue, the former Cabinet decided to procure regular passports from the same supplier. This led to a conflict, as the previous supplier still had a contractual right to handle passport printing.

The matter was taken to court, where an agreement was reached, allowing the government to purchase 750,000 passports from the original supplier,” he said.

Minister Herath added that the previous supplier agreed in court to print the passports at a specific price. Based on the court’s decision, the special Cabinet meeting granted approval to allow the supplier to deliver the passports in batches.

With Cabinet approval secured, the issuance of new passports is scheduled to commence on Monday and the government aims to resolve the crisis soon.The first batch of 750,000 passports will be distributed over the next three to four months, after which fresh orders will need to be placed.

Herath also noted that the government has decided to introduce a new system for procuring passports, which will involve calling for tenders. This decision was made during the recent Cabinet meeting.

Additionally, Minister Herath clarified that due to an interim injunction related to the e-passport system, the government is currently unable to proceed with the tender process for e-passports. Further action on the matter will only be taken once the court case is resolved.

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