President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has revealed the national digital identity (ID) card will be launched in March. He made the remarks while delivering the Presidential Address at the Parliament of the Maldives.
In his address, President Solih decided to launch a digital identity card to solve the problem of repeatedly submitting copies of ID cards and documents to the government. He added that another difficulty faced by the public is the long queues, not picking up the phone and not getting answers. As such, he said the one-gov service will also be launched in March.
The current national ID card does not have any digital features. However, the new digital ID card will have many security features. The digital ID card is being introduced through the newly launched eFaas application which is designed to make all cards issued by a government agency digitally accessible to the individual's personal information.
According to the National Centre for Information Technology (NCIT), the digital ID card is designed to be in both Dhivehi and English language. However, information transferred from one institution to another will be in the language required by the agency. The eFass application, which will be introduced with the digital ID card, has strong security features as well. The highest priority is to ensure that the individual's personal information cannot be fraudulently taken by anyone else. Before the card is allowed to be used, the person will be verified.