People hardly get benefits from ‘digital island’ project

There is hardly any tangible benefit from declaring Maheshkhali as a 'digital island' by the government due to "irregularities and poor communication" with the mainland.

The project is neither helpful for the ordinary people nor for the promotion of tourism in the island due to faulty design and an ulterior motive behind this project.

The initial cost of the project was over Tk 220 million.

The government, Korea Telecom (KT) and International Organisation for Migration (IOM) are jointly implementing the project which was scheduled to be completed in September last year. The government declared Maheshkhali as a 'digital island' aiming to make it a model for the world in five years.

The main components of the project were to provide high-speed broadband connection to all institutions of the island, improve access to information technology for the people, broadband connectivity to enable the island's 0.4 million people to get access to e-services in agriculture, education and health as well as other services of the government.

It was claimed that under this project, 25 educational and local government institutions have already been connected to high-speed internet.

But during a recent visit to the island, it was found that there was only a two-storey building as the project office where an official from social service department was working.

While talking to this correspondent, he said there were some other trainers but they will be available in the afternoon.

This correspondent also visited a primary school where there were two classrooms having multimedia facilities. A Dhaka-based teacher was taking class in one of the classrooms while other class was off as rainwater was leaking from the roof.

Nasir Uddin, a resident of Maheshkhali, told the FE that the programme to provide internet connection to 10 schools is in papers only. It is not a reality. Some of the teachers are trained for conducting multimedia classes. WiFi connection has been provided to around 150-200-feet surrounding areas of the project office, not for the general people, he added.

"People are using internet of their mobile operators. Then how come they get online services at the island under this project if the internet facilities were limited to some schools and government office?" he asked.

He also said e-commerce is not viable in the island as it was claimed in the project due to difficult communication. Agro products like prawn, betel leaf and dry fish are directly sent to Chattogram, Dhaka and Narayanganj through big wholesale traders. A small trader or farmer cannot send five kilos of dry fish through e-commerce sites due to bad communication and high cost, he added.

The authority also said they would provide computer training to the young people in Maheshkhali, one of the remotest islands of the country.

But they were taking Tk 2,600 from each of the trainees of a batch of 20. At present, they were running three batches.

Although IOM was supposed to provide training, they have given the responsibility to social service department for training.

The tourism sector of Maheshkhali Island hardly benefits from the project. The island is famous for the Adinath Temple and Buddhist temple.

The whole island is underdeveloped with dilapidated roads and unfriendly jetty combined with mismanagement.

There is no lifejacket in any speedboat or country boat, although tour operators have repeatedly requested the authority to ensure proper equipment and lifejacket. The jetties on both sides have no proper equipment for safe loading and unloading, especially for the tourists who are not used to travel by the sea route.

Touch Creation Ltd managing director Mahbub Hosion Sumon told the FE that development of communication and other jetty facilities is a must for developing island-based tourism.

There is hardly any maintenance of the jetties along with proper management. Awareness building among the boat operators is a must and they should be trained in tourist handling, he added.

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