Passport prices to go down

The Registrar-General's Office has acquired a printing press that produces electronic and ordinary passports in a development that will see prices significantly go down, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has said.

The department is sub-letting printing of passports at Fidelity Printers.

Speaking on the sidelines of a party that President Mugabe hosted at State House to celebrate Zanu-PF and his resounding victory in last year's July 31 harmonised elections, Deputy Minister Ziyambi said acquiring a printing press was one of the major successes of the Zanu-PF Government since the polls.

"Very soon we will be producing our own booklet in terms of passport production," he said.

"We now have our own production centre for passports.

"We got one of the best printers in the world. Very soon it should be commissioned by His Excellency (President Mugabe).

"We have been using Fidelity Printers which is the reason we have been having shortages and the price was also high.

"But we hope that we will now clear all the backlog because we will be doing it ourselves and the prices should also come down."

Currently, applying for an executive passport (one day) costs US$315, an urgent one (three working days) costs US$250 and an ordinary passport US$50.

A Temporary Travel Document costs US$35, passport application forms and Temporary Travel Document forms are US$3.