100,000 passports to be issued – Tikoduadua

The total number of passports to be issued is about 100,000 and there has been a significant increase in passports needed and currently, there are 40,000 passports.

This has been highlighted by Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration, Pio Tikoduadua who says this number is expected to increase to 100,000 next year.

While responding to Opposition MP Premila Kumar on the increase in the budget for the Department of Immigration during the 2024-2025 National Budget debate, Tikoduadua says there has been a $2.5 million increase in the passport budget allocation.

He explained the reasons for the increase in passport allocation on why $4 million is allocated for the next budget compared to the $1.5 million allocation in the current budget.

Tikoduadua says for e-passports, the blank books are provided under a five-year contract with a contractor in Germany and the initial delivery comprises 40 percent of the total order, amounting to 707,329 books, and the remaining 60 percent upon delivery, totalling one million dollars.

He says the overall cost for this contract is $2 million.

Tikoduadua also highlighted that the shipment costs amount to two million dollars and service support costs approximately 69,850 euros.

The Minister for Immigration says the annual contract for the company's services and support for the next year will cost around $200,000.

Tikoduadua says the cost for the passport printer and the enrollment kits for the new financial year is $1.3 million, while disaster recovery support is budgeted at $3.5 million.

He added that in the event of a system failure or a cyber-attack that disrupts passport printing, the allocated funds will be used for data recovery.