If it`s not completed by late 2012, I will resign,"Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi has said he would resign if the implementation of the electronic identity (e-ID) card program misses its completion time target of late 2012.
"If the target can not be met, I will resign as home affairs minister," Gamawan said here on Monday at a hearing with the House of Representatives (DPR)`s Commission II to explain the implementation of the e-ID card project.
In 2011, the e-ID card project was to be implemented in 197 districts/cities, and in 2012 in 300 districts/cities.
Gamawan said the e-ID card program was to be implemented by the home affairs ministry in 2011 and 2012 through a multi-year pattern.
Some 197 districts and cities have been selected because the districts and cities have accurate data on their population.
The minister was optimistic that the project would have provided at least at least 170 million peole with an E-ID card by late 2012.
"If it`s not completed by late 2012, I will resign," Gamawan Fauzi said.
The electronic identity (e-ID) card project has gained media attention due to the late arrival of equipment delaying the project`s implementation, and corruption allegations.
The e-ID card or e-KTP program was supposed to have been launched in several cities simultaneously on August 1, 2011.
But the local authorities concerned were forced to put it on hold because they had not received the necessary equipment, including computers, biometrics for finger print records, and IRIS eye retinal scanners reportedly imported from the United States.
The home affairs ministry had allocated a budget amounting to Rp6.3 trillion ($642 million) from the state budget for the introduction of e-ID cards nation-wide.
The ministry had reportedly requested an additional Rp 930 billion from the House of Representatives, saying it had overlooked hundreds of new subdistricts across the country.(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
