Govt maintains prices for newly introduced passports

Govt maintains prices for newly introduced passports
By Gillian Namungala
Sunday August 03, 2008 [12:51]

HOME Affairs minister Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha has maintained that the government will not reduce prices for the newly introduced passports. The 48-page passport will cost K500,000 while the 32-page one will be pegged at K300,000. Lt Gen Shikapwasha, in an interview, said the price for the new passport was justifiable because it was based on the high cost of printing materials that would be used. He said the government would spend huge sums of money on the materials for the new passports.

“The materials that we will be using are very expensive and government will be spending a lot of money, therefore the price is justifiable,” Lt Gen Shikapwasha said. “Government is actually subsidising because K500,000 and K300,000 is not even sufficient compared to what is going to be spent on the materials.”

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said the new passports would be computerised and would bear security features that would not be forged.

About K6.5 billion is expected to be spent on the printing of the new passports.
Currently, one pays K72,000 to obtain a passport.

Home affairs permanent secretary Susan Sikaneta on Friday announced that a group from Germany would be in the country to start the process of issuing new passports.