Zimbabwe is working towards launching unmanned border controls to allow visitors, with biometric data, to enter and exit the country without having to go through manual controls.

The southern African nation of Zimbabwe is set to join Dubai with the launch of an unmanned border post by the end of next year, which will see travellers entering and exiting the country using their e-passports and having fingerprints and faces scanned without having to go through the traditional manned border control point.

This system uses biometric data recorded on the passport, such as fingerprints and facial recognition, to verify the identity of the traveller whose face and fingerprints are scanned and compared. Once the traveller’s identity has been verified, the boom lifts and they are allowed to pass through the unmanned border post.

Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Mthuli Ncube told the Zimbabwean Parliament that government will invest in full digitisation of the country’s border posts.

“It is just that when we were having the discussions about modernising our borders, we wanted to be the first country outside Dubai to have an unmanned border post where you can walk in because now we have an e-passport with a chip in it. You can walk in and the gates open when your passport is read. You do not talk to anybody. We want that equipment here by the end of 2024,’’ Ncube said.

He added that the country should embrace the modernisation agenda adding that it could only be achieved with adequate funds.

‘‘We have to be modern. That is what motivated us. It is the kind of thinking to say we need resources to support the Ministry of Home Affairs and we thought that increasing passport fees. Someone proposed that rather than pay USD 120 for an ordinary passport, let us make it USD 150,’’ he said.

The system has many benefits, including reducing waiting times, streamlining the process of entering and exiting the country and enhancing security.