E-governance project will remove traditional inefficiencies

E-governance Project Director Alexei Ramotar said the development of a strong Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure can work to eliminate inefficiencies within traditional sectors and has the potential to become an important avenue for economic development.
Ramotar noted that not only does ICT act to remove the weaknesses of traditional sectors, but also in itself, it has become an important part of the services sector; creating jobs from small single-entity businesses to large firms.
“With a general trend in Guyana of young people being trained and looking for high- skilled, non-traditional professions, ICT opens a new avenue,” the project head said.

Infrastructure
According to Ramotar, this is an issue that has been recognised by many countries in the world. However, it has also been recognised that a strong infrastructure is required to push such an agenda. This is the reason behind government’s thrust to not only enhance the government services offered to the people, but also radically transform the ICT infrastructure of Guyana and bring it more on par with the rest of the Caribbean.
Ramotar stated that approximately all major government agencies and offices are within the coverage area. He disclosed that the network is also designed to be easily extendable and will provide various services, including in areas of health, education and security.
Ramotar explained that electronic health will allow for video consultation among medical personnel, movement of information from one health facility to another and also for purposes of tracking disease outbreaks. With regards to security, e-governance is expected to allow for swift transmission of information, including video and data between police stations.
e-library
As it relates to education, plans are in train for the establishment of an e-library allowing a central repository of books that can be used by students and schools, thus lowering the cost and allowing for equal opportunity.
The E-governance Project consists of three parts; namely the data centre, the transmission network and the access network.
The data centre acts as the control centre for the network and has the ability to add e- governance services.
The users and control of sites is controlled from the centre which is located in the Castellani House compound. The transmission network extends from Moleson Creek in Berbice to Charity on the Essequibo and from Lethem in the Rupununi through Linden to Georgetown.
It consists of a fibre network and microwave network. This fibre will be available from Lethem to Georgetown, Moleson Creek to Parika and microwave will be available from Moleson Creek to Charity.
The access network provides for all major government facilities in the coverage areas to be connected via fibre and or 4G wireless cellular services.