This new service was designed by Al Elm Company; a public corporation owned by the Public Investments Fund for the Directorate General of Passports. The e-gate service was designed to extend quick and better services to passengers based on smart cards, eye iris and fingerprint identification technology. It enables passengers to finalize of traveling procedures without any need to stand on the traditional queues for verification of their identifications and for stamping their passports by passports officers. The verification process is done through the biological characteristics and fingerprints and eye prints.
The Director General of Passports Major General Salem bin Mohamed Al Belaihid said the inauguration of the e-gate service at King Khaled International Airport comes within the framework of government plans to inaugurate and launch several pioneering technological initiatives to ensure the comfort of citizens and expatriates.
This vital and important project, he said, is aimed at providing technological services to citizens to save their times and get rid of the routine procedures of checking in and out at the passports offices at King Khaled International Airport.
He expressed his pleasure for the official inauguration of the e-gate which he described as rendering service of vital importance in the present time and constituting a qualitative shift and a distinguished addition to the technological achievements made by the Kingdom at the level of electronic government.
He pointed out that is a computerized network linking the e-gate and the Directorate General of Passports and affirmed that all data in the e-gate will be recorded in the Passports computer systems.
He noted that the new service would guarantee the privacy of information and would facilitate the arrival and departure of passengers through an electronic system without the need of passing through passports officials.
Al Belaihid further clarified that the passenger would be given a printed card to use it to pass directly through an electronic gate when entering or leaving the country instead of having his passport stamped.
For his part, Dr. Khaled bin Abdulaziz Al Ghoneim, the Chief Executive Officer of Al Elm Company said 'the e-gate initiative which was inaugurated at King Khaled International Airport is an important part of a series of electronic initiatives to be launched by the company.
He said the company team designed the e-gate system under the company's within the framework of its keenness to provide services to all segments of society, noting that this system is one of the new technical systems which are aimed at speeding up the registration of arrivals and departures and enforcing greater central control and follow-up of entry and exit in and from the Kingdom.
Al Ghoneim outlined that the e-gate is an electronic outlets through which a passengers can enter and leave the Kingdom without the need to stop in a queues for stamping their passports and for verification of their identification through passport officers.
According to him the electronic technology of finger and iris prints is an electronically integrated solution developed through smart card identification technology which is used to pass through an electronic gate.
He said, 'The launching of this service comes within the framework of the e-government adopted by the Government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.' He added, 'Al Elm company is committed to apply this technology in its capacity as the pioneering company in the field of secured electronic solutions, in order to create a society that supports and applies modern technologies, which distinguishes this millennium.'
He said, 'The e-gate constitutes an important cultural leap which puts the Kingdom on the threshold of a new phase of technology that puts an end to the traditional form of finalizing the procedures of passengers at the arrival and departure terminals at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh.' And added, 'Now anyone with a passport can go to the Arrival Terminal No 2 at King Khaled International Airport to register his data and biological characteristics (finger and eye prints) before the passport officer to get a pass card with a photo to allow him to pass through the electronic gate without any need to stamp the passport.'
He stressed that the registration process is easy and simple and does not take more than ten minutes.
He noted that the application of e-gate service at King Khaled International Airport will save to travelers a lot of time and efforts and will help them to finalize their entry procedures in a record time and with privacy, security and safety. 'This service also meets the needs of a wide category of the society, particularly the businessmen who travel frequently,' he said, noting that this technology provides an important feature that allows passengers to register their names once inside the system to be identified automatically after that.
It is worth noting that whoever wishes to use the e-gate must get smart card first by visiting one of the registration centers. The passport officer in the center verifies the identification of the applicant, enters his biological characteristics in the system (finger and eye prints) and then issue him card holding a photo taken immediately at the registration center.
Passengers holding smart cards can enter or leave the Kingdom through the 'electronic gate' by following simple steps to go to the electronic gate, and insert the card in the electronic reader to open the electronic barrier front of the gate.
When the traveler enters the electronic passage, the system will provide him with the necessary instructions to complete the process successfully to complete the process successfully. (This process includes entry of flight information, verification of identification through the biological characteristics). When leaving the system will provide the passenger with a printed voucher showing the entry or exit information.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Siba Sami Ammari
Quelle/Source: AME Info, 16.11.2008
