DAR ES SALAAM, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Wednesday launched new electronic passports aimed at enhancing national security and controlling illegal immigrants.
"The travel document, among other things, will enhance national security, control illegal migrants and play a key role in revenue collection," Magufuli told his audience of diplomats and senior government officials at the Immigration Services headquarters in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
The president said the e-passports will be available at the cost of 150,000 Tanzanian shillings (about 67 U.S. dollars) apiece and will be valid for 10 years.
The project to make the e-passports was jointly implemented by the government of Ireland and HID Company, a United States-based service provider, at the cost of 57.82 million U.S. dollars.
Paul Sherlock, the Irish Ambassador to Tanzania, said: "Tanzania has made a milestone in launching the e-passport because many countries across the world are struggling to produce the state-of-the-art passports and many of them have failed."
Anna Makalala, the Commissioner General for the Immigration Services, said the project to produce the e-passports started to be implemented in September 2017, and the first phase was completed this month.
She said the old passport holders should now start replacing them with the e-passports, adding that the old passports will remain valid until 2020.
Mwigulu Nchemba, the Minister for Home Affairs, said the government was determined to improve services rendered by the Immigration Services which played core role in maintaining peace and security of the country.
