EC mulls smart NID cards by year-end

The Election Commission (EC) will provide smart national identity (NID) cards to all citizens of the country by the end of this year, reports UNB.
The EC thinks it would be able to provide the high security featured smart NID cards after completing the tender process in October this year.
Instead of the present normal laminated NID cards for the voters, the EC has decided to provide the sustainable smart NID card to all citizens at free of cost for the first time.
The smart looking card will have multi-purpose use as it will be machine readable.
Now a voter is given normal laminated NID card inscribed with the name of a voter, names of parents, date of birth, ID number and voter's address.
The commission in 2011 took a plan to provide the smart card under its Identification System for Enhancing Access to Services (IDEA) Project, which was jointly sponsored by the government and the World Bank (WB).
The WB in 2011 signed a loan agreement for the project involving a cost of Tk 13.89 billion. On condition of reforming laws related to the national identity registration, the WB will provide the loan for providing the smart NID cards under the IDEA project. The tenure of the project will end in June 2016.
The National Identity Registration Act 2010 has already been reformed while the National Identity Registration Rule has been sent to the Law Ministry for vetting.
EC acting secretary Sirajul Islam said the Commission is now preparing tender documents and will invite international tender in June/July next after getting approval of the WB. The work order could be given by October after completing the tender process, he hoped.