Fri | Nov 14, 2025

$2.9 billion more for Jamaica's NIDS project

Published:Tuesday | February 18, 2025 | 7:02 PM
Prime Minister, Dr Andrew Holness (second right), removes his newly printed National Identification Card from a machine located at the National Identification Registration Authority (NIRA) Personalisation Centre, at Central Sorting Office in Kingston, in N
-Contributed photo
Prime Minister, Dr Andrew Holness (second right), removes his newly printed National Identification Card from a machine located at the National Identification Registration Authority (NIRA) Personalisation Centre, at Central Sorting Office in Kingston, in November 2024. Looking on (from left) are Executive Director of the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities, Dr. Christine Hendricks; Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica, Dr. Wayne Henry; Card Machine Operator, Rog-Jae Seymour and Chairman of NIRA, Bishop Conrad Pitkin.

The Government has allocated $2.9 billion more towards the implementation of the ‘National Identification System (NIDS) for Economic Growth’ project.

Details of the project are outlined in the 2025-2026 budget, which was tabled in the House of Representatives last week.

NIDS, an electronic form of identification, is expected to provide a comprehensive and secure database for capturing and storing the personal information of citizens and non-nationals ordinarily residing in Jamaica.

For the upcoming fiscal year that starts on April 1, the programme will complete modifications for 19 enrolment sites and wide area network connection for 19 sites; as well as complete the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) web portal, eWallet and digital birth certificate.

The programme will also continue supporting the National Identification and Registration Act in expanding enrolment coverage, executing the NIDS communication strategy, permitting authorised staff access to digitised records, mandating and updating the National Identification System, and establishing the Government of Jamaica Public Key Infrastructure.

Up to December 2024, some of the achievements under the programme included the enactment of the National Identification and Registration Act; completion of the Card Personalisation Centre; digitised more than 1.4 million records at RGD; establishment of formal partnerships with eGov Jamaica Limited, Jamaica Post and RGD to implement NIDS.

There was also the completion of phase one go-live of the National Identification System and the acquisition and installation of equipment for the National Identification System Data Centre.

Work also commenced at seven locations designated as enrollment sites.

The project is being implemented by the Office of the Prime Minister, with funding from the Government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). It is slated to end in February 2026. The initial span of the project was from February 2018 to February 2024.

The project had an initial estimated cost of $8.8 billion. Jamaica is to provide approximately 263 million, with about $8.5 billion coming from an IDB loan. The additional $2.9 billion projected for the upcoming fiscal year will bring total expenditure so far to about $6.4 billion, according to the budget documents.

The project stumbled in an initial rollout when the Supreme Court struck down the NIDS law in 2019, saying it breached several constitutional rights. A new legislation was pursued.

- JIS News contributed to this report

Follow The Gleaner on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.