diff --git a/kubernetes/helm/openslice/templates/cridge-config.yaml b/kubernetes/helm/openslice/templates/cridge-config.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index 2c62c9a4b728e1fbaef442af56fe08dd6a30d585..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/kubernetes/helm/openslice/templates/cridge-config.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-apiVersion: v1
-kind: ConfigMap
-metadata:
-  namespace: {{ .Release.Namespace }}
-  labels:
-    app: {{ include "openslice.fullname" . }}
-    org.etsi.osl.service: cridge
-    chart: "{{ .Chart.Name }}-{{ .Chart.Version | replace "+" "_" }}"
-    {{- include "openslice.labels" . | nindent 4 }}
-  name: {{ include "openslice.fullname" . }}-cridge-kubeconfig
-data:
-  config: |-
-    {{- .Files.Get "files/org.etsi.osl.cridge/config" | nindent 4 }}
diff --git a/kubernetes/helm/openslice/templates/cridge-secret.yaml b/kubernetes/helm/openslice/templates/cridge-secret.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..4a32bff5cab0c141bfb250f1d8e5f1c9dc802feb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/kubernetes/helm/openslice/templates/cridge-secret.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+{{ if .Values.cridge.enabled }}
+
+{{- $kubeconfigBase64 := .Values.cridge.kubeconfig.base64 | default "" -}}
+{{- $kubeconfigFile := .Values.cridge.kubeconfig.raw | default (.Files.Get "files/org.etsi.osl.cridge/kubeconfig.yaml") -}}
+{{- $kubeconfig := "" -}}
+
+{{- if $kubeconfigBase64 }}
+  {{- $kubeconfig = $kubeconfigBase64 | b64dec }}
+{{- else if $kubeconfigFile }}
+  {{- $kubeconfig = $kubeconfigFile }}
+{{- end }}
+
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Secret
+metadata:
+  namespace: {{ .Release.Namespace }}
+  labels:
+    app: {{ include "openslice.fullname" . }}
+    org.etsi.osl.service: cridge
+    chart: "{{ .Chart.Name }}-{{ .Chart.Version | replace "+" "_" }}"
+    {{- include "openslice.labels" . | nindent 4 }}
+  name: {{ include "openslice.fullname" . }}-kubeconfig
+type: Opaque
+data:
+  config: |-
+    {{- if $kubeconfig }}
+    {{ $kubeconfig | b64enc | nindent 4 }}
+    {{- else }}
+    {{- required "A kubeconfig file is required." ($kubeconfig | b64enc) | nindent 4 }}
+    {{- end }}
+
+{{- end }}
diff --git a/kubernetes/helm/openslice/templates/cridge.yaml b/kubernetes/helm/openslice/templates/cridge.yaml
index 5e558467581532ef544ef89545b3216cc76f99bf..10656390c474046f1bee83e9531b0cf87da57272 100644
--- a/kubernetes/helm/openslice/templates/cridge.yaml
+++ b/kubernetes/helm/openslice/templates/cridge.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+{{ if .Values.cridge.enabled }}
 apiVersion: apps/v1
 kind: Deployment
 metadata:	
@@ -9,9 +10,7 @@ metadata:
     {{- include "openslice.labels" . | nindent 4 }}
   name: {{ include "openslice.fullname" . }}-cridge
 spec:
-  {{- if not .Values.autoscaling.enabled }}
   replicas: {{ .Values.replicaCount }}
-  {{- end }}
   selector:
     matchLabels:
       app: {{ include "openslice.fullname" . }}
@@ -24,10 +23,6 @@ spec:
         org.etsi.osl.service: cridge
         {{- include "openslice.selectorLabels" . | nindent 8 }}
     spec:
-      initContainers:
-        - name: init-osscapi
-          image: busybox:1.28
-          command: ['sh', '-c', "until nslookup {{ include "openslice.fullname" . }}-osscapi; do echo waiting for osscapi; sleep 2; done"]
       containers:
         - image: "{{ .Values.image.cridge.repository }}:{{ .Values.image.cridge.tag | default .Chart.AppVersion }}"
           imagePullPolicy: {{ .Values.image.cridge.pullPolicy | default "Always" }}
@@ -45,11 +40,12 @@ spec:
           resources:
             {{- toYaml .Values.resources | nindent 12 }}
           volumeMounts:
-            - name: cridge-kubeconfig
+            - name: kubeconfig
               readOnly: true
               mountPath: /root/.kube
       restartPolicy: Always
       volumes:
-        - name: cridge-kubeconfig
-          configMap:
-            name: {{ include "openslice.fullname" . }}-cridge-kubeconfig
+        - name: kubeconfig
+          secret:
+            secretName: {{ include "openslice.fullname" . }}-kubeconfig
+{{- end }}
diff --git a/kubernetes/helm/openslice/values.yaml b/kubernetes/helm/openslice/values.yaml
index 178451e9bf9af6231313f43cb071fdc85270a89a..7af2383c8b566ddddf9e7f9de44b7356ca736aed 100644
--- a/kubernetes/helm/openslice/values.yaml
+++ b/kubernetes/helm/openslice/values.yaml
@@ -112,9 +112,13 @@ mysql:
   storage: 10Gi
   
 cridge:
+  enabled: true
   logLevel: INFO
   spring:
     loglevel: INFO
+  kubeconfig:
+    base64: ""   # Provide base64-encoded kubeconfig here if available
+    raw: ""      # Provide raw kubeconfig here if available
 
 portalapi:
   logLevel: INFO