The government has started the mega project to expand digital connectivity by bringing 2,225 unions across the country under optical fiber link.
“The move also aims to expand the nationwide data communication backbone, up to the union level to achieve the goal of ‘Digital Bangladesh’ and also enhance the access to e-services for Bangladesh’s rural communities,” an ICT department official said.
The Department of Information and Communication Technology under the ICT Division has constructed a Preliminary Development Project Proposal (PDPP) for the ambitious programme, titled ‘Establishing Digital Connectivity’.
The estimated cost of the project is Tk 3,308 crore, for the period of January 2017 to December 2020.
Of the total project cost, the government will provide Tk 500 crore while the rest of Tk 2,808 crore will come as project assistance, possibly from the Chinese government.
The proposed project aims to fulfill the objectives of the 7th Five Year Plan that wants to introduce e-governance at all executive levels of the government as well as the district ones.
The official of the ICT, who wished not to be named, said the project also being implemented to supplement the government’s efforts for generating more employment opportunities.
The absence of high-speed data network at the grassroots level has blocked the country’s drive to become a ‘Digital Bangladesh’, the official said adding that this project is will help expand the high-speed internet connectivity up to the union level.
“It’ll consolidate the national IT infrastructure and facilitate the popularization of IT services. If the project is completed successfully, all the unions will be connected with the nation’s backbone network. ICT facilities will be extended up to the lowest tier of local government,” the official said.
The project is also expected to make access to government services easier, eliminate information gap, improve the efficiency and communication of the public servants, increase the real-time response and process efficiency and providing better services to citizens.
Another official at the ICT Division said the project activities also include conducting surveys and design upazila-wise fiber optic layout plans for connecting the 2225 union parishads.
Source: Ittefaq
