World Bank approves $50M for Nepal’s DPI, including new national identity system

The World Bank will finance building up Nepal’s digital public infrastructure (DPI) and digitizing public services to the tune of US$50 million. The project will support a number of digital platforms and develop a new national identity system.

The Nepal Digital Transformation Project was approved on Monday and will be co-financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is contributing $40 million.​

The financing will help the government design a new national data exchange and national ID system, which will serve as a basis for an integrated social protection system (ISPS), reducing inefficiencies and duplication.

The Nepalese government has struggled to distribute national IDs in remote areas. Data from May last year showed that nearly 66 percent of applicants did not pick up their identity card.

Last year, Nepal launched its government services app, Nagarik, which integrates its current national ID system. The World Bank has included the platform in its plan as a government services hub for individuals and businesses.

The project will support other digital platforms, including an integrated social registry, a digital locker to manage verifiable credentials and a digital wallet. Another task will be digitizing government services, starting with high-impact services such as land administration. It will also help develop electronic signatures, cybersecurity and data governance.

“By investing in core digital platforms and digitalizing services, this project will help deliver enhanced services to people and businesses in an inclusive and transparent manner thereby improving service delivery, public sector efficiency, and good governance,” says David Sislen, World Bank division director for Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The inspiration for developing the key digital platforms will come from examples in Moldova, Jordan, Singapore, South Korea, and Ukraine, according to the project details.

Another goal of the project is to boost private sector investment in the data infrastructure market by improving legal and regulatory frameworks. The government will draft and amend a data protection law, a cybersecurity law, an electronic transactions law, and a national ID law.

The World Bank also plans to help develop data governance frameworks for data hosting and cloud computing, which is essential for overcoming its mountainous geography.

The Digital Nepal project will be implemented by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Department of National ID and Civil Registration.

Article Topics

civil registration  |  digital government  |  digital ID infrastructure  |  digital inclusion  |  digital public infrastructure  |  digital wallets  |  national ID  |  Nepal  |  World Bank