MANAMA: Mahmood Rafique, Editor: Around 150,000 nationals will get the newly launched ePassport this year and in the first phase the expired passports will be replaced.
HE Shaikh Hisham bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa, Undersecretary Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs (NPRA) addressing a Press conference said that the issuance of ePassport will be carried out in different phases.
“Initially, the expired passport holders will get the new travel document and over a period of a year 150,000 passports will be issued,” HE Shaikh Hisham said, adding that the following year around 200,000 passports will be issued.
“This is a huge national project and we have planned various phases for the issuance of new travel documents to all citizens. There are many technical aspects to placing the print order, which takes time, and that is why it has been decided to issue the newly launched ePassport in phases.
HE Shaikh Hisham, who led the committee mandated with conceiving, developing, and launching the ePassport, that contains world’s latest security features making its counterfeiting almost impossible.
It took 12 months to develop the new ePassport pertaining high quality characteristics, and security specifications, which adhere to accuracy and all international standards.
