Government to spend Rs 4.6b on IT projects
ISLAMABAD: Federal government plans to spend Rs 4.6 billion on Information Technology (IT) projects during this year with emphasis on strengthening e-government, human resource and infrastructure development.
“There are around 43 projects which are being executed in the sector and their total cost is Rs 22.9 billion,” an official at the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications said on Wednesday.
The official said in order to achieve strategic objectives and enhance the economic growth, policy reforms were envisaged which included spreading Internet to farthest corners of the country (at least upto Tehsil level) so that students, businesses, research institutions and commerce could benefit from the information technology.
“Private entities are being encouraged to put information on websites and provincial governments should guide them in this regard,” the official said. He informed further that all data obtained by remote sensing satellite of SUPARCO as well as through surveys carried out by the Agriculture Departments and Crop Reporting Services (CRS) was being integrated in one central Agricultural Productivity Website of the country.
He maintained this would help develop fair food policies for rice, sugar, cotton and wheat for the next season. The individual local markets (mandis) selling agricultural produce would be linked through websites in order to apprise the traders and government of current prices of various products and help deal with situations of surpluses and deficiencies. The government policies of agriculture ministry and TCP would also be based on feedback of this website.
Moreover, for enhanced software exports and to safeguard the interest of smaller software developer, the government would move them into viable clusters in Software Parks where these small development companies could manage larger IT development projects mutually. The software houses should operate as small industrial cities on the same lines as Textile or Garments Cities, where uninterrupted electricity and broadband internet might be provided by government.
He said computerization of revenue record was being implemented in all districts of the Punjab. “Documents like Fard of property are now available on line. The Federal Government has invested heavily on development of software for this project,” he added.
In Sindh, e-Police system is being introduced which will be implemented at 500 sites and will include Traffic Management System, e-Driving License, police record, surveillance system, call center for emergencies.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, virtual teaching labs are being established in 48 schools and the course content in subjects of Math, Physics and Chemistry while property tax system would be implemented in all urban cities and areas of province.
He said Hunarmand Rozgar Scheme would facilitate skilled youth of the provinces to have self-employment and establish small businesses especially in the field of IT.
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