Electronic or e-passport distribution will start on a limited scale in July this year, top officials of home ministry have said.
Home minister Asaduzzaman Kamal said earlier the distribution of digital passports will start next July on a limited scale.
Digital passports with the validity of 10 years will be available for mass distribution in two years.
"We've 146 offices at home and abroad. It'll take time to get everything on board before issuing e-passports," Maj Gen Sohail Hossain Khan, director general of the Department of Immigration and Passports (DIP), told the FE on Tuesday.
According to the DIP, an e-passport has an embedded electronic microprocessor chip which contains biometric information to verify the bearer's identity.
The official said an e-passport will have 38 types of security features.
The data now available in the machine readable passport (MRP) database will be transferred to an e-passport.
After approval of the 'Introduction of e-passport and Automated Border Control Management in Bangladesh' law last June, the DIP started work in July 2018.
Project director Brig Gen Saidur Rahman Khan told the FE that everything is on track and distribution will take place as per schedule.
The cost of the scheme is projected to rise by at least 40 per cent.
As to whether the cost would rise, Mr Rahman said he was not aware of such information.
According to DIP officials, e-passports will primarily be issued from Dhaka office.
At the same time, MRP distribution will continue from other regional offices until they start issuing e-passports.
Existing MRPs will be accepted until their expiration.
The process to install e-gates has already begun at airports and land ports across the country to facilitate the use of e-passports.
German firm Veridos got the job of preparing some 20 million e-passports and rendering other services to Bangladesh at US$400 million (Tk 3,339 crore).
