Review and Mail writer
Murehwa today becomes the first rural District in the country to offer e-passport services after President Emmerson Mnangagwa officially launched the Murehwa District Registry and Bio-enrolment Centre as part of government’s national agenda of achieving a digital economy.
Apart from Harare, the issuance of e-passports was also extended to Bulawayo and Chitungwiza.
Government entered a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) arrangement with Garsa Pasaulis, a Lithuanian company which has resulted in the decentralisation of the passport offices and issuance of e-passports.
In a statement, the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, the centre will provide services for a number of communities in the district.
“The new centre will service people from Mutoko, Mudzi, Uzumba and Goromonzi among many others. Passport offices will not be limited to Provincial capitals only but will also be available in districts. Issuance of e-passports dovetails with the National Development Strategy (NDS1) modernisation agenda of achieving a digital economy,” read the statement.
President Mnangagwa’s official commissioning of this new centre makes Murehwa the first rural district to offer these e-passport services in the country as part of the Second Republic’s National Development Strategy one (NDS1).
Early this year, Zimbabwe launched the e-passport which has enhanced security features to replace the old one.
According to the Immigration Department, the new electronic passport (e-passport) became acceptable as an official document at all ports of entry and travellers have been using it for foreign trips.
