The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration on Friday inaugurated a passport application office in Cape Coast in the Central region of Ghana.

The facility is a two-storey located at Aquarium in Cape Coast.

This move forms part of the Ministry’s quest to decentralise passport application processes across the country.

On the occasion of the commissioning, sector minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey said her outfit has leveraged on technology to enhance the efficiency of passport operations in general for improved service delivery.

“With the official opening of this Centre, residents of this Region can now apply for a passport here in Cape Coast without travelling to Takoradi or Accra for such service,” Ms Ayorkor Botchwey said.

She noted that the ministry adopted the government’s digitization agenda by automating the process of acquiring passports through the online application system.

“It is also envisaged that the establishment of a Passport Application Centre in Cape Coast would unleash more opportunities in the supply chain where the youth and school leavers can take advantage and set up their own small businesses, she added.

The online application system is an appointment-based system whereby an applicant has the liberty to select a centre of choice and a time convenient to the applicant. It is a complete departure from the old manual application system which was beset with challenges ranging from overcrowding at PACs, improper completion of forms, interference of middlemen among other flaws.

The new system process ensures orderliness at the PACs since they will only attend to applicants whose appointments are due for processing. Flexibility and transparency in service delivery are additional benefits of the online application system.