Project to digitise parliament moves at a snail's pace

A three-year project undertaken by the government to digitise the National Parliament is moving at a snail's pace due to reluctance and perceived 'lack of capacity' of the implementing agency.

Facing delays, the project is now going to see a major revision with a change in the implementing agency while the project's tenure is also going to be extended.

Aimed at improving the ICT infrastructure of the National Parliament as part of the ongoing e-governance drive in the country, the three-year project was originally scheduled to start its operation by July 2017.

The Parliament Secretariat, the administrative body of the National Parliament, was the original implementing agency of the scheme.

However, until now, the Tk 458-million project has not even started its operation due to 'unwillingness' of the Parliament Secretariat in implementing the project.

Officials concerned now say the project is going to be implemented by the Information and Communication Technology Division instead given the 'better experience and capacity of the aforementioned entity in digitisation schemes'.

"The Parliament Secretariat has formally asked the ICT Division through a letter to take over the project," a senior official dealing with the issue told the FE last week.

"Accordingly, the project will now be revised with the ICT Division becoming the implementing agency."

He added: "The project span will also be extended by a year to June 2021."

Once operational, the project will work to bring all the proceedings of the national parliament sessions since the country's independence under a digital archive.

At the same time, the project would also develop customised software for the automation of the national parliament by 2020.

Apart from that, the project would work to preserve and back up all the parliament related data through a data centre.

A range of trainings will also be provided to the parliament staff and officials to enhance their ICT skills, the relevant document shows.

"We have held several rounds of meetings with the Planning Commission regarding the necessary revision of the project design," a senior official of the ICT Division told the FE.

"They gave us some observations, in line with which, we were working to send the revised project proposal to the PC very soon."

"Once we receive the go-ahead from the Planning Commission, the project will start its operation," he added.

Although the ICT Division will now be at the helm of the project implementation, all the activities of the project are virtually centred around the parliament.

In this context, when asked how necessary coordination between the parliament and the ICT Division will be ensured, the officials concerned said an official from the Parliament Secretariat will be acting as the deputy project director of the scheme.

In addition, a project office will be established within the parliament secretariat, they informed.

Bangladesh has initiated a number of schemes to bolster its e-governance infrastructure as part of its digitisation drive in recent years.

The country secured the 115th place among 193 countries in latest the E-Government Development Index, moving up 9 places from the 124th position it took in the same index two years ago.

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