Shortage of passports in Sri Lanka to end soon
Sri Lanka’s Department of Emigration and Immigration on Friday said the shortage of new passports, which has presently put thousands on the waiting list, will end within two months.
Nihal Ranasinghe, the Controller General of Emigration and Immigration, said that following a proposal by Minister of Internal Affairs and Wayamba Development, S.B. Navinna, the cabinet of ministers had granted approval to order one million passports, reports Xinhua news agency.
The order for the new passports was placed on Thursday.
Sri Lanka faced a shortage of new passports due to plans to upgrade to an e-passport which would include an electronic chip that includes bio data of the owner.
However the e-passport proposal ran into a legal battle due to a non-transparent procurement process which has temporarily halted the process, making authorities to continue issuing the normal passport book.
Sri Lanka offers two varieties of passports, one that includes travel to all countries, while other limits travel to Middle Eastern countries only.
(IANS)
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Seems every body is frustrated and wants to leave the country.
Seems also that these jokers can not even get the basic day to day stuff in order. God Help Sri Lanka.
Soon the Hon Minister of Finance will charge LKR 2 million for each passport.
Only way to settle loans from the Bond Scam.
‘ the e-passport proposal ran into a legal battle due to a non-transparent procurement process which has temporarily halted the process,’
Again, there we go ,someone missing Komis, my dear Sri Lankans.
Of course, we have many Procurements Boards, at Cabinet level, at Ministry level, Procurement Appeal Board, special Procurement Board.
But all tenders are given to the highest bidders.
Infact, GOSL should re-write procurement rules and state that all tenders will be awarded to the bidder providing the most Komis. The formula should be ‘Komis per LKR tender price should be the highest and not be less than 0.5.’
For example, if the tender price A is LKR 100 including a Komis of LKR 35, the ratio is 0.35; if tender price B is LKR 300 including a komis of LKR 210, the ratio is 0.7.
Tender price B will be the winner.
Then, things will move at lightening speed.