In response to the financing difficulties some countries may encounter when setting up a NIC-type project, ZETES proposes the Build, Operate & Transfer (BOT) model. Operating as a Public–Private Partnership (PPP), this allows ZETES to:
- handle the costs of installation and management
- be paid according to the number of documents issued.
The only commitment required of the government concerns:
- the volume of documents to be issued each year, to ensure the profitability of the project
- the number of years over which contract execution should be extended.
Governments often find that obtaining funds can be a significant obstacle to launching these major projects. This is especially true since the technologies that the ECOWAS card requires, which are intended to protect it as much as possible against counterfeiting and identity fraud, are at the cutting edge of the technology for secure identity documents. In this type of configuration, BOT can be the ideal solution, whilst keeping the price of the card down to an acceptable level, comparable to the price currently paid by applicants.
