The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved a proposal in principle for procuring 40 lakh pieces of Machine-Readable Passport (MRP) booklets and 40 lakh lamination foils on Direct Procurement Method (DPM).
The approval was given at the 22nd meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs held virtually with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair on Wednesday.
At a virtual meeting with the media, the Cabinet Division Additional Secretary Dr Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal said that based on ‘demand calculation’ these MRP booklets and lamination foils will be procured for the Department of Immigration and Passports under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Answering to a question, he said that if the government could have fully launched the e-passports services in the country, then there would have been no such necessity of using more MRPs.
“There is no denying that there was an impact of the Covid-19 in this regard,” he added.
Dr Saleh also said that the 31st meeting on Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) was also held today virtually with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair where it gave approval to a total of four proposals including Tk 140.1 crore projects of the Power Division.❐