Tanzania has rolled out the new electronic East African
Community passports to replace the existing national documents, set to
be phased out by January 2020.
The launch on Wednesday
was witnessed by President John Magufuli who said the e-passport would
bring lasting solution to a number of
challenges associated with immigration services in the country.
challenges associated with immigration services in the country.
The e-passport is
embedded with a machine readable computer chip which contains the
holder’s biometric information on a tamper-proof page, and has been
touted as a major step in curbing fraud and easing clearance at
international airports where e-readers are installed.
Tanzania
becomes the second EAC member country to roll out the e-passports after
Kenya which launched the documents in September last year, 17 years
after discussions to develop the Community document began.
The
35th EAC Council of Ministers meeting in last April directed member
states to start issuing the regional e-passport by January 2018.
The
new technology to print the e-passport in Tanzania was installed by
US-based HID company with support from the government of Ireland and
cost about $58 million.
"The implementation started in September 2017, with a view to
have the first phase accomplished in January 2018," said the
Commissioner General of Immigration (CGI) Dr Anna Makalala.
The new travel document will cost Tsh150,000 ($67.5) and will be valid for 10 years.
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