The suspended digital identification card program has cost NT$202 million (US$6.27 million) in public spending, as a budget item was renewed semi-annually from January 2021 to December last year, the Central Engraving and Printing Plant said.
Officials from the mint made the comment to lawmakers in the digital ID distribution and budget utilization task force under the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee on Wednesday.
In June 2019, the mint began preparations to manufacture digital ID cards containing chips under the Executive Yuan’s directive, aiming to replace existing cards in two years, they said.
Photo: screen grab from the Ministry of the Interior’s Web site
The agency in February 2020 signed a contract with Teco Electric and Machinery Co for card-making equipment, which was delivered in December that year, the mint said.
The factory and equipment were already ready when the Executive Yuan on January 2021 halted the project due to unresolved information security issues, they said.
Teco, which had already supplied the equipment, sued the mint for the income the chip factory would have generated, the mint said, adding that the case was settled out of court.
The settlement stipulated that the government would pay for the project’s overheads, including equipment maintenance and replacement, personnel costs and utility bills, they said.
The building features assembly lines, quality control stations, packaging areas, administrative offices, computer rooms and storage space for semi-finished and finished cards, officials said.
Access-controlled gates and cameras were installed to protect personal data from being leaked and the product’s integrity, they said, adding that personnel would be under full surveillance.
The factory’s internal network is air-gapped and makes use of a point-to-point tunneling protocol to enhance security, they said.
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