19 Additional Post Offices to Be Modified for NIDS Access

The Government is to go to tender this calendar year to select contractors to commence the modification of an additional 19 post offices to expand access to the national identification card.

Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, Hon. Floyd Green, made the disclosure during his contribution to the Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on May 16.

“We are presently finishing the enrolment centre at the Post Office Mall in Liguanea and will break ground for Mona and Constant Spring. We will be utilising the post office space to create modern state-of-the-art enrolment facilities,” Mr. Green said.

“What we are going to do at Mona, we are going to create an almost brand-new facility, because we believe that we will be able to utilise the campus that is right next door, that there will be a lot of interest from the students on campus to get their national identification,” he added.

The Minister also informed that the Government has hired a consultant and has identified at least 100 government services that heavily use identification “that we are going to seek to digitise, using the NIDS (National Identification System) to make life easier for Jamaicans”.

He said that services like the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), and the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) are to benefit from this initiative.

Mr. Green also informed that a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with 10 deposit-taking institutions, adding that four workshops have been held to see how they can leverage the National Identification System to make life better for all.