Budget cuts put e-governance project in limbo

TIMES INT'L

The fibre-optic cable from Brazil, through the border town of Lethem and which is on its way to the coast is now in limbo with the combined opposition, the Alliance For Change (AFC) and the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), cutting budgetary allocation to the project to a mere Gy$ 1.

The e-governance programme is part of government’s overall Information Communications Technology (ICT) thrust to provide Internet access to indigenous communities to facilitate the hinterland aspect of the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) programme.

Two projects were embarked on in two phases: the first is the Lethem to Georgetown project which will connect to Brazil, and provide Internet access for e-government purposes.

A section of the fibre-optic cable that was installed in Region Nine

This project is about 85 per cent complete with all the fibre optic cables in the country; however, there is still the need to put in internal equipment and connect the cables.

The other project, which is much bigger, is to run a fibre-optic cable from Moleson Creek to Parika, then do a crossing for access to the Essequibo Coast.

This project also has with it a wireless component for access to the network, which will be through the long-term revolutionary 4G cellular technology as well as an e-government data centre which will be built and established in Providence.

The main focus of the programme is to create infrastructure in Guyana, especially for government purposes, introduce new government services and give whatever services already exist better access to the citizens who use same, and to speed up the process. However, with the budget cut instituted by the parliamentary opposition, works to ensure its completion are likely to be stymied.

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