The clarification from the Corporate Affair's Directorate of the authority said the total cost of delivering the Ghana Card is $293 million and not $1.2 billion.
The National Identification Authority (NIA) has issued a statement clarifying its earlier claim that the National Identification Card (Ghana Card) will cost the nation $1.2 billion over a 15-year period.
READ MORE: Ghana card to cost nation $1.2 billion
The clarification from the Corporate Affair's Directorate of the authority said the total cost of delivering the Ghana Card is $293 million and not $1.2 billion.
Ghana will commit $124 million while the project partner commits $169 million over a period of one year, according to the statement.
"The NIS project to deliver ID cards to all Ghanaians is over a period of one year. Within this period, the state is committed to $124m while the project partner is committed to $169m. The total project cost for the delivery of the Ghana cards is therefore $293m and not 1.2bn USD. This total is expected to cover the technical and operational cost that will deliver ID Cards to all Ghanaians over the one year period," the NIA said.
The statement added: "When the card has been delivered and become fully functional, part of the revenues that NIA will be raking in by virtue of the daily use of the card, will be used to manage NIA’s operational cost and pay off the investments that the partners would make over a period of 15years. This is projected to be 1.2bn USD over the life-cycle of the project."
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The NIA had earlier said the project will cost the nation $1.2 billion over a period of15 years.
According to Executive Director, Ken Attafuah, the government is contributing $531 million of the cost, while Identity Management System (IMS), which is partnering the NIA under a public/private partnership (PPP) agreement, will provide $678 million for the exercise.