Advanced e-gate system imported from Germany at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (Dhaka airport) has remained largely non-functional for nearly 4 years, forcing passengers to use traditional immigration counters despite holding e-passports.

Bangladesh introduced e-passports in 2020, becoming first South Asian country to do so. Shortly after, 27 specialized e-gates were installed at Dhaka airport to enable 18-second immigration processing for e-passport holders. System was officially inaugurated on July 7, 2022 after 11 months of trial operations.

However, technical complications caused all 27 gates to shut down just 8 months after launch. Passengers now face long queues at manual immigration counters, rendering expensive German technology useless.

Aviation expert Air Commodore (retd) Ishfaq Elahi Chowdhury blamed airport authorities’ dearth of accountability for this situation. “Everything here is government-owned and these are lifetime jobs with no chain of command authority, and trade unions are so powerful that nothing moves forward”, he told media.

Group Captain SM Ragib Samad, Executive Director of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, acknowledged the problem stems from Department of Immigration and Passport operations.

“Previous government couldn't take any comprehensive decision whether manual immigration or e-gate would operate”, he told The Aviation Express today.

Samad explained that not all passports are e-passports, preventing system from reading every document. “Even after completing immigration through e-gate, passengers had to go to manual desk again. This created confusion and the matter went to adviser level”, he said.

HSIA executive director confirmed no comprehensive decision has been received regarding system’s future operation. Confusion persists over why passengers must visit manual counters after completing e-gate immigration.

Multiple calls to Director General of Department of Immigration and Passport Major General Mohammad Nurul Anwar went unanswered.

Security analyst criticized authorities for failing to prioritize passenger convenience, stating lack of accountability has created current situation where advanced technology sits idle while travellers endure lengthy processing times.