The 27.5 year, interest-free loan includes a 13.5 year grace period and was first discussed in 2019 between State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and then Chancellor of Austria Brigitte Bierlein. The e-ID project will be carried out within two years and involve three phases.

The purpose of the e-IDs is to allow the government to maintain an online database of citizen information and pave the way for national registration cards (NRC) to be replaced by e-IDs, or smart cards. 

The first phase of the project will involve digitalising the population registration system, followed by replacing physical NRCs to e-IDs which will contain each citizen’s biometric data. This will be accessible to the authorities and collected from every citizen from the age of 10 and above.

The implementation of e-IDs in Myanmar is already lagging behind other countries and its benefits should be explained to the public,  Bilin Constituency MP U Tin Ko Ko Oo said during a parliament session on May 27.

Tatmadaw MP Major Saw Kyaw Aung said national cybersecurity should be considered and the pros and cons of similar systems implemented in other countries first studied before driving implementation of the system in Myanmar. Local and foreign experts in the field should be consulted as well.

A total of 58 organisations including the World Bank have come and discussed the digitalisation process of the Myanmar population registry from May 2016 to April 2019, according to the ministry. – Translated

Source: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/myanmar-receive-austrian-loan-national-e-id-system.html