maldives - border control system underway

Deputy Controller says border control system underway

MALE, January 20 (HNS) ? Despite Anti-Corruption Commission?s (ACC) order to halt the Maldives electronic border system Immigration Department is proceeding with the project, Deputy Immigration Controller Adam Naseer said yesterday.

Naseer said a team from Malaysia?s Nexbis Limited, the company that won the bid to develop the system, is currently working at the department.

?Since some six days ago a team of about six officials from the Malaysian company is working at this department in order to carry out the preliminary research needed to start the project. It is one third of the project,? Naseer, who lodged defamation charges against Controller Ilyas Hussein Ibrahim, said.

Controller Ilyas, however, denied the report saying that the project has been put on hold on ACC orders. ACC Commissioner Hassan Luthfee also said the commission is unaware of the project?s works carried out at the Immigration Department.

The department signed the 20-year build, operate, and transfer (BOT) concession contract with Nexbis in October 2010.

Under the Rf500 million project, an electronic border gate system would be established in Male International Airport. The system will be equipped with fingerprint technology to identify the immigrants and an integrated system, which would provide instant access to travel document records, passport, and visa and fingerprint database.

The government should repay the initial investment of the system which would cost about US$39 million (Rf501 million) within 20 years. A US$2 fee is to be charged from every foreigner entering the country and US$15 has to be paid for work visa.

Nexbis is required to pay five percent of its profit to the government as royalty.