MRPs for 6 lakh BD expats in KL planned

UNB, Dhaka :
The government has decided to distribute machine readable passports (MRPs) among six lakh Bangladeshi
expatriates living in Malaysia as Bangladesh faces a deadline to do the job by March, 2015.
The Home Ministry has already prepared a proposal for signing a deal with a private IT firm to distribute the MRPs among the expatriates.
The proposal, signed by Home secretary CQK Mustaq Ahmed, will be placed on Monday at the first purchase committee meeting of the new government, official sources said.
According to the proposal, the private firm will get $18 for distributing one MRP while $1.08 crore (Tk 84.24 crore) for the distribution of six lakh of MRPs.
The government floated a tender on May 19, 2013 for distributing MRPs among Bangladeshis living in Malaysia and 14 firms participated in the bid. After scrutinising the tenders, the Home Ministry has finally selected an IT firm for distributing the MRPs.
If the purchase committee approves the proposal on Monday, the selected IT firm will set up eight centres in Malaysia.
The Bangladeshi expatriates will apply for MRPs to these centres and then the centres will send data to the Department of Immigration and Passports in Dhaka through online. The passport office will then send the MRPs to Bangladesh Mission in Malaysia and the selected IT firm will distribute the passports among the expatriates. As per the direction of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the government must provide all Bangladeshi expatriates with MRPs by March, 2015.