KANDAHAR - In an exclusive interview with Kandahar RTA, Kandahar Governor, Dr Toryali Wesa, said that the distribution of new electronic identity cards would help determine the actual population size of Kandahar and at the same time would also increase the central government budget plan for the province.

Mr. Wesa also said that he was hopeful that the new ID cards would help prevent forgeries.

“We are fully ready to implement the electronic ID card distribution in Kandahar. Currently, we receive budget from the central Government based on the previous population statistics, which was less than one million, whereas the actual population of Kandahar is currently around 2.5 million,” said Mr. Wesa.

The electronic ID cards would be distributed with a total cost of US$ 220 million and the Ministry of Interior and Communication had completed most of the preliminary work.

The head of Statistics Department, Nasrullah Salim, said that everyone with a family record in Kandahar would be entitled to have an electronic ID.

“The new system is bio-metric where everyone will have to give their finger prints and their eyes will be scanned. The ID card can be used for election and other purposes,” Mr. Salim said.

Source: Kandahar (RTA) Headlines