Sri Lanka procures 350 biometric devices for national digital ID

The Sri Lankan government has procured 350 units of biometric hardware, including high-resolution cameras and fingerprint scanners, for its upcoming Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity (SL-UDI) project which seeks to convert the country’s standard identification card (ID) to a digital ID.

The tender for the balance 400 units of the same hardware was awarded, Deputy Minister of Digital Economy Eranga Weeraratne told Biometric Update on Sunday in Colombo.

He said the Department of Registrar of Persons (DRP), a government unit issuing national identity cards for citizens, had already spent 5.5 billion Sri Lankan rupees (SLRS) on the SL-UDI project which aims to boost the economy, enhance services, and address corruption.

Weeraratne said that the previous government secured a SLRS 10.4 billion financial grant from India for the project which is estimated at a cost of SLRS 20 billion (US$67.3 million). This includes two sophisticated data centers to host the platform at two DRP sites, running the platform for three years along with the hardware cost. “The government will need to put in an additional SLRs 4.5 billion,” Weeraratne said.

Concerns were raised over potential Indian access to Sri Lankan’s personal data, prompting further negotiation by the National Peoples Power (NPP) government.

The NPP government amended an agreement with India for project development, ensuring local control with non-profit Indian platform provider MOSIP (Modular Open-Source Identification Platform).

MOSIP has been engaged with Sri Lanka’s government on the digital ID program since 2020.

Weeraratne noted that the services of the Indian partner are used to develop the project and customization of software. He said the new government after analyzing the agreement with India, looked at it positively but insisted on several amendments to safeguard the sovereignty of data and to have control of the digital ID platform.

“The system will be 100 percent controlled and managed by Sri Lankan professionals. The Sri Lankan government will undertake login, database, and software updates.”

The DRP is in the final stage of implementation of this platform and training the provisional council personnel. Weeraratne added that collecting fingerprints and face recognition will start next month. The last revision of the Digital ID Act in the country provides for fingerprint and facial recognition.

Weeraratna that iris biometric scans will come later when the DRP and the system itself are equipped to collect the data.

The project will start by issuing digital IDs for 16-year-olds who are eligible for their first ID. After six months, the project will avail itself for the old national identity cards and convert them into electronic national identity cards (e-NICs) Weeraratna added.

He noted that institutions such as banks will implement digital ID and also have fingerprint scanning facilities to identify the account holders.

Sri Lanka integrating govt services as digital ID project set to begin

By Lu-Hai Liang

Now that a biometric device supplier for the MOSIP-based ID has been chosen, Sri Lanka’s government intends to begin the work to get its electronic national identity card (e-NIC) up and running in a matter of weeks.

The project to develop and issue the e-NIC, which will create a National Register of Persons and issue electronic identity cards to every Sri Lankan citizen over the age of 15, along with the government’s payment gateway, is scheduled to go live at the end of this month.

“This project will help us capture data such as birth certificates, tax identification etc through biometrics,” said Weeraratna. “It aims to centralize all sorts of IDs and have a single one for many purposes,” he explained, speaking to The Sunday Times Business.

The Sri Lankan government intends to integrate various agencies with digital payments for the GovPay project, which will simplify payments for municipal councils, university fees, and a range of other official functions.

“We will aim to launch this in the last week of this month,” Weeraratna said. “We have already integrated 16 government institutions and will complete the integration of 30 government institutions by April.”

Sri Lanka is working with Indian officials, seeking expertise as its northern neighbor runs the world’s largest digital identity system, to help build its own system. India is providing funding as well as technical support, and so subsidizes some of the costs related to the e-NIC.

Weeraratna added that The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and other donor agencies are in discussions with the government over various projects. “They are on board with the government’s digitalization projects,” he said.

Commentators have urged Sri Lankan officials to build necessary safeguards, and to ensure sovereign control, for its digital public infrastructure, as key parts of the system relies on Indian assistance.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  face biometrics  |  fingerprint scanners  |  government purchasing  |  MOSIP (Modular Open Source Identity Platform)  |  SL-UDI  |  Sri Lanka