ID card idea irritates Finance Ministry

TALLINN - The Estonian Finance Ministry said this week it wouldn't be able to supply the extra 70 million kroons ($4.12 million) needed to complete the Interior Ministry's new identification card project, meaning people would have to pay for the documents themselves.

The ID card, a plastic card similar to a driving license, would be an alternative means of identification within Estonia.

The card would contain computer encrypted information about the holder. Interior Ministry officials said they need 66.8 million kroons to complete the project.

The cards project is the result of legislation passed by Parliament and that getting the cards issued by next year is crucial as many passports expire then.

Interior Ministry officials believe that Estonian residents won't yet be willing to pay for the cards themselves.

According to Merike Juriloo, a spokeswoman at the Citizenship and Migration Board, about 120,000 passports will expire next year.

"This will be the first major wave of replacing passports in Estonia. We are preparing for it and hope to get ready by January 2002," said Juriloo.

Present fees for replacing Estonian passports are 100 kroons and 300 kroons, depending upon the reason. If a person is responsible for destroying the document, he or she pays 300 kroons.

Margus Kreinin, director of the IT department of the Finance Ministry, said the cost of the ID card project was the main problem.

"In 1999 we were told the project would cost 40 million kroons. Now the Interior Ministry says it's going to be 330 million kroons plus those 70 million they have recently applied for," he said.

The ID card could cost those applying several hundred kroons, according to earlier media reports.