Smart identity cards issued

Department of Provincial Administration chief Wichai Srikwan said that this 2nd generation of ID cards could save two times more information and were harder to counterfeit than the older version.

The cards would also contain information from other cards - such as the Health Insurance Office, the Veteran Welfare Office and the Office of Agricultural Economics - making it more convenient for cardholders to contact government agencies, he said. Some 26 million card will be available in the first batch followed by another 26 million in future, he said.

In Bangkok, the new cards were delivered to eight district offices yesterday and would cover 50 district offices by May 21.

The Interior Ministry had also signed MOUs with another 11 state and private agencies including the Land Department, the Student Loan Fund, Ramathibodi Hospital and the TK Park, so cardholders can benefit from the information via their ID cards in the future.