Bangladesh is set to roll out a Tk 9,193-crore project named Digital Service Transformation for Access and Resilience or D-STAR Project Bangladesh will give each citizen a single identity credential from the moment they are born. The project proposal has been submitted to the Planning Commission for approval and upon approval will run from 2026 to 2031.
The Facts About D-STAR
The D-STAR is being developed by the Information and Communication Technology Division and will be run by the Bangladesh Computer Council. Fundamentally is a new identity system, colloquially called Ek-ID or One-ID, that replaces the current system where a child gets a birth registration certificate and only gets a National Identity Card at the age of 18. The new system would give every citizen one single identity credential for life, starting at the moment of birth, with no age requirement.
Officials say that when the new card is introduced, it will take over functions now spread across the NID, the Family Card and the Farmer Card. Other identification systems such as passports, driving licenses and tax identification numbers are also expected to eventually link into the same underlying database so that citizens do not have to provide the same personal details to different government offices.
Where The Money Goes
The government will provide Tk 7,663 crore from its own resources of the total price tag of Tk 9,193 crore while the remaining Tk 1,530 crore is proposed to be borrowed from the World Bank. The biggest single outlay of around Tk 7,380 crore, or about 80 per cent of the total budget, has been allocated for the production of an estimated 200 million chip-based identity cards and the biometric enrolment, data migration and distribution work necessary for issuing them across the country.
Mamunur Rashid Bhuiyan, secretary of the Information and Communication Technology Division, said the project is to reduce the need for the citizens to give the same information repeatedly to different services.
Part Of A Bigger Digital Push
D-STAR is part of a larger project to build a digital public infrastructure in Bangladesh. In addition to the card, the initiative is expected to help create a National Data Exchange and a Hybrid National Cloud, systems designed to let government agencies securely share verified data rather than operate in siloed, disconnected records. Officials have underlined such interoperability as a key to the government’s declared goal of a Smart, Tech-Driven Bangladesh by 2041.
The approach is based on models used in countries like Estonia, Singapore and India, but Bangladesh’s version combines elements of each instead of copying one system. The government wants to issue physical ID cards as well as digital versions, seeing the credential as a building block for future digital wallets, tax administration and access to government services, rather than as a single-purpose card.
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What This Could Mean For People
If approved and rolled out on schedule, D-STAR would be one of the largest identity infrastructure projects in Bangladesh’s history, and would touch nearly every citizen through its planned 200 million cards. Supporters say a single interoperable ID could reduce paperwork, reduce duplicate data collection and make it easier to access services such as banking, healthcare and social welfare programs that already run partially through existing digital identity systems.
At the same time, the scale and cost of such a project are likely to bring scrutiny over implementation timelines, data privacy safeguards, and how securely biometric information for such a large population will be stored and managed. And like other large ICT infrastructure projects in Bangladesh, D-STAR could encounter delays and budget revisions in the lead-up to work commencing, which could impact the level of scrutiny given to the project’s rollout.
The Planning Commission is reviewing the project proposal, and more details on the rollout timeline and the card distribution process will be shared after the official approval.
