British firm may get contract on migration to e-passport

The Government is to hire a leading British firm specialising in currency printing and is in partnership now to prepare the groundwork for electronic passports for Sri Lankans. This new generation travel document will contain in a microchip the holder’s biometric data in electronic format.

The University of Moratuwa has just completed a comprehensive assessment on the Department’s readiness for migration to e- passport. The Department of Immigration which has begun preliminary work in this regard has been advised by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management ( CCEM), chaired by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to call for an “overall implementation approach” with key stakeholder organisations including ICTA ( Information and Communications Technology Agency).

ICTA has now proposed the existing Private- Public- Partnership venture between De La Rue Lanka Currency and Security Print and the Government of Sri Lanka. The British firm is to finance 100 percent investment to implement the project, bringing in a saving of some Rs 1.2 billion.

According to Internal Affairs Minister S. B. Nawinna, the general assumption is that other countries benefit more from an e-passport than the issuing country. “However, such a solution has the potential of bringing in new regulations to facilitate e- passports issued by other countries in Sri Lanka’s border control,” he has noted.

The Government proposes to engage De La Rue Lanka Currency and Security Print through a Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) for the first work study on the e-Passport. ICTA is to serve as partner. Among the areas of study will be the current passport printing and the personalisation system of the Department of Immigration with the preparation of a detailed system design including the e- Passport booklet.