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ePurse set to become reality

MUSCAT — In line with the national e-Government and Digital Omani Society strategy, the Information Technology Authority (ITA) and Royal Oman Police (ROP) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with BankMuscat and Gemalto (supervisor of the civil status system) and Nuts of Singapore for the implementation of the first phase (pilot phase) of the ePurse application.

The system will be embedded with the national identity cards for the citizens and resident cards for the expatriates. It will allow the public to load the money electronically into the ID card and utilise the funds to make payments for government services.

Lieutenant-General Malik bin Suleiman Al Ma’amari, inspector-general of police and customs, signed the MOU on behalf of ROP, and Mohammed bin Nasser Al Khusaibi, secretary-general of the Ministry of National Economy and chairman of ITA, signed it on behalf of ITA.

From BankMuscat, Abdulrazak bin Ali Issa, chief executive, and for Gemalto its vice-president for Middle East Pierre Servettaz signed the MOU.

Khusaibi said the ePurse service aims at simplifying procedures and easing the exchange of data among various government departments.

This will be followed by other measures which will allow Omani nationals to utilise their ID card for carrying out different transactions, such as medical records, electoral card and other services connected with their day-to-day life.

Darwish bin Ismail Al Balushi, secretary-general of the Finance Ministry, who attended the MOU signing ceremony stated that the ePurse scheme will help the government bodies collect payment for their services using the credit/debit cards. The ePurse will also help in finalising deals within minimum time, and it is also considered as a banking system to be used in place of manual collection, he added.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant-Colonel Jamal bin Said Al Ta’iee, assistant DG for financial affairs and scheme’s director at ROP, said embedding the ePurse in the national IDs will not only benefit the user, but will enhance the national economy and e-governance.

“The first phase of the project, to be implemented by BankMuscat in cooperation with Gemalto and Nuts of Singapore, will assess the scheme, highlight its positive sides and find solutions for any shortcomings that might emerge during the project’s practical implementation phase,” he added. “After the experimental phase is over, software solutions will be implemented at the ATM machines of all local banks under the ITA’s supervision,” he said.

The signing ceremony was attended by undersecretaries and officials of ROP, ITA, CBO and BankMuscat.