Get your smart card: Mayor

PHUKET CITY: Phuket City Municipality is now offering “smart card” ID cards, providing citizens with a replacement for old identification cards.

Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwannasuppana, explained at a press conference yesterday, “People who have a valid ID card can request a smart card by submitting their existing ID card and a copy of their house registration.

“A 40-baht fee will cover both a database check and the new card. If people don’t want a smart card immediately they can keep their old ID card until it expires and then submit it, in which case there will be no fee. Smart cards are valid for six years.”

K. Somjai continued, “The cards can store a lot of personal information and, later, will also be capable of being used as an ATM card. They have a 13-digit ID number and have details of house registration from the Department of Local Administration in the Ministry of Interior.

“In the future we plan to have the card linked to other databases with information about social security and driving license details, but we’ll have to wait a bit for that.

“When all the data from other units is ready we can link them up and have the ideal smart card. Many people have requested this project and it comes as an answer to a great need,” she added.