News

Pakistan government commits to IT, e-government

August 21, 2003

ISLAMABAD -- The government wants the international community to look at Pakistan as a vibrant and lucrative IT market, and plans to make a financial commitment to boost the business of local IT companies.

"This would generate employment opportunities for young professionals," Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications, Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, said in a report in The International News.

He was addressing a seminar on "Empowerment through E-Governance" organized by Oracle Corporation Pakistan. "It is our endeavor to promote the local software industry and the government will do all it can to achieve this target to enhance competition and the quality of services offered by the local software houses," Leghari said. An outlet for the software is kiosks.

Federal IT Secretary, Khalid Saeed, said that by setting up kiosks around villages, the government could not only increase the efficiency and productivity of farmers, but also provide a range of information to them.

"E-governance aims at giving villages access to information in their local languages about crops and agricultural marker prices, employment schemes and education opportunities," Saeed said in the report.

He said the kiosks could eventually be used for filing taxes, contacting public utility companies and making payments online.

Saeed said the government has already put the land revenue record in Punjab online to ensure efficient services to the people. He said the computerized registration system for land and property shortened the procedure for citizens from several days to less than an hour.