(Business in Cameroon) - Despite the innovations, the process of acquiring this travel document remains difficult, and the traditional long queues are not over yet. To be issued a biometric passport, applicants often wait for nearly 2 months, according to the private weekly, Ouest Littoral on Thursday August 22, 2013.

According to an undisclosed applicant of the passport, the acquisition process proceed at the pace of the snail. The source claims to have been waiting for 45 days, a shared view of another applicant. “I thought things would happen quickly. I have been waiting over a month to get it but there is still nothing,” the source said.

The new biometric passport clearly differs from the old. As advertised, it carries all identity information about its owner, in a chip. Its manufacturers say the document is fenced from forgery. 5,000 biometric passports are already available for a month at a rate of 1,200 produced per day.

The official launching ceremony of the biometric passport in Cameroon took place in Yaoundé at the start of last week. It was chaired by the Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh.

Martin Mbarga Nguélé, the Director General of National Security, the issuing authority was also present. Cameroon prides itself as the first country with the CEMAC zone to start using this hi-tech travel document.