"Is Nexbis in a partnership deal for the Nepal Passport...

"Is Nexbis in a partnership deal for the Nepal Passport Deal"



Thursday, March 04, 2010, 02.16 PM RSS MOBILE EMAIL ALERT


NEW DELHI: Two Malaysian companies are vying to supply Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) to the Nepalese government, racing to modernise its immigration operations ahead of an international deadline.

IRIS Corporation Bhd and Heitech Padu Bhd had joined a list of international bidders to supply MRPs to Nepal which needs about a million passports a year.

"These two companies have expressed interest to supply the MRPs to Nepal and have submitted their proposals. Nepal needs about four million e-passports (electronic) over the next four years," Datuk Ilankovan Kolandavelu, Malaysian Ambassador to Nepal, told Bernama.

Nepal immigration authorities have to comply with the April 1 international deadline to introduce MRP as countries around the globe are moving towards electronic passports for security purpose and to ease travel.



Seventeen companies responded to Nepal Government's earlier tenders which was later called off. The Foreign Ministry cited "technical reasons" in the tendering process for the cancellation.

The e-passport is expected to cost the government US$70 million (RM245 million).

Both the internationally-reputed Malaysian companies having expertise in producing electronic passports will be competing with India which is also bidding for the project.

The Indians had offered to print each MRP at US$4 (RM14).

Iris and its joint-venture partners recently won a similar project in Bangladesh to supply MRPs and Machine Readable Visa, a contract worth nearly RM259.70 million.

BERNAMA