The passport issuance crisis continues to escalate, with the current stock expected to last only until July next year.
In response, the government has announced the formation of a special committee tasked with providing solutions to prevent the issue from becoming a larger social problem.
According to sources, the Cabinet has approved the appointment of the committee, which must submit its recommendations within two weeks.
The ongoing legal dispute over the previous government’s tender process adds complexity to the issue, but officials emphasize that solutions must be pursued independently of the case.
To address the immediate shortage, the government followed through on the prior administration’s decision to procure a stock of N-series machine-readable passports (MRPs) from Thales DIS Finland Oy and its local agent, Just In Time (JIT) Technologies.
This urgent procurement aims to resolve the passport shortage, which stemmed from mismanagement of the tender process under the previous government.
