Public Security Minister Vijitha Herath told the Sunday Times that to address the current passport shortage at the Sri Lankan Immigration Office, the government has decided to procure “N series” Machine-Readable Passports from a new supplier.
According to the report, a new stock of 47,500 passports from the supplier, Thales DIS Finland Oy, will arrive around October 15th.
“We are not stopping the order from Thales. If we stop, we won’t have passports. The right or wrong process will continue,” the Minister said.
Thales, through its local agent, Just In Time Technologies, is set to supply a second batch of 100,000 passports by the end of November.
However, the supplier has not yet sent any advance samples to the Department of Immigration and Emigration, which is required to submit a copy to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for approval.
Despite a court order regarding the procurement, the Court of Appeal cleared the urgent purchase last Tuesday.
The government will receive a total of 750,000 passports from Thales, as approved by the previous Cabinet, at a cost of US$3.7 million (Rs. 1 billion).
