The Public Services Agency (PSA) decided to modify the technology for making passports that has been used for 16 years. More exactly, the photo and personal data of the holder will no longer be on a sheet of paper covered with protection fill, but on a polycarbonate sheet. Even if the cost of production materials is higher, the Agency estimates that the passports will become cheaper owing to the exclusion of royalty taxes. It is panned that the new passports will start to be issued next autumn, IPN reports.

The Agency’s director Mircea Eșanu told a news conference that the procurement of blank IDs and the equipment needed to make IDs will be launched in a week. There will be bought about 3 million blank IDs, half of which will be for passports, while the others, of card type, will be used to make identity cards, driver’s licenses, technical passports, etc. The technology used to make the passports will be changed.

“By this new technology, we want first of all to significantly increase the number of issued documents. Secondly, we hope that the almost 100,000 lei we will save by excluding the royalty taxes will ease the burden borne by the citizens of the Republic of Moldova. Surly, the final cost of passports will be determined after we hold the tender contest and choose the suppliers of equipment and blank IDs,” explained Mircea Eșanu.

The authorities do not yet anticipate a reduction in the price of an identity card that now costs 130 lei when it is issued in an ordinary regime. The price of a passport will yet decrease by about 200 lei.

The total cost of the purchase of blank IDs that are intended for a period of three years is 430 million lei or €21-22 million, but PSA hopes to get a lower price at the tender contest.

The public procurement to the value of 500 million lei initiated by the former administration of the Public Services Agency for buying blank official documents was stopped by the new government at the start of September. It was determined that the procurement was organized with multiple violations of the legal provisions, including concerning the periods for publishing the announcement, the modification of the value of purchase for several times and of the time limits for submissions.