Inaugurated on September 29, 2023, in Bonanjo by the Delegate General for National Security, Martin Mbarga Nguélé, the biometric passport enrollment center in Douala is operational and adapted to the current economic environment.
“The success of new biometric passport production systems is the work of the Head of State, who, in his constant and tireless concern to effectively and sustainably solve the difficulties encountered by applicants for this public service, has decided to submit the pressures related to the issuance of biometric passports to a partnership adapted to the current economic environment. It is this BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) partnership model that His Excellency President Paul Biya has just authorized for the implementation of a new national identity card issuance system.
Thus, in the coming months, a new partner will have to invest in building 3 autonomous national identity card production centers in Yaoundé, Douala, and Garoua. These modern enrollment centers will have a minimum of 15 stations in each regional capital, and the number of identification stations will be doubled nationwide, from the current 280 to 543. The national identity card will be issued in less than 48 hours from the day and time of enrollment.”
These words are those of Martin Mbarga Nguelé during the inauguration of the biometric passport enrollment center in Douala.
For the Mayor of Douala, Roger Mbassa Ndine, this biometric passport enrollment center will be of great use to the population of the economic capital. He took the opportunity in his speech to express his gratitude to the Head of State, Paul Biya, for thinking of opening this center in the economic capital and pledged to always support the Cameroonian police, especially the one in the coastal region, in its activities.
It is important to note that this center is inaugurated two years after the one in Yaoundé. Indeed, it was in July 2021 that the national police opened a passport enrollment center in Yaoundé. Equipped with recent technology in the field, the infrastructure aims to expedite passport issuance. The waiting time has thus been reduced from several weeks to 48 hours. The Douala center is part of the same policy and also aims to alleviate the congestion in the Yaoundé center.