July 15, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 14, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 14: Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication and the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) have joined hands to collect, disseminate and transmit basic data for all their stakeholders to strengthen the district government system in the country.

This was stated in detail by Chairman NRB Daniyal Aziz in a presentation he made to Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari and some MNAs here at the NRB headquarters on Monday.

The NRB chief elaborated upon the newly developed e-government software, based on the National Reconstruction Information Management System (NARIMS) to collect data of each village of the country to provide information to the policy makers for the improvement of education and health facilities in the villages.

Mr Aziz highlighted a pilot project prepared for the Chakwal district which included information about the staff of the district government and equipments of every project related to health, education and other utilities.

The NRB chairman said that initially data collection and compilation through the government software was done in seven districts including four in the NWFP and one each in Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh.

“With the cooperation of ministry of information technology and telecommunication, the NRB would expand its data collection system to other areas of the country,” he said.

The NARIMS programme is meant to support the local government plans for good governance and prompt access to detailed information.

Mr Aziz said the main objective of collecting data on scientific basis was to ensure success of the development projects since without proper information and data, development projects could not be perfectly executed.

The NRB chairman said after completing the data for all the districts of the country, it would be made available to anyone who needed it on the web pages.

He said that the lack of active involvement of communities at the grass roots level in the development projects was a major area that needed to be improved.

The data, he added, would also be helpful for NGOs and other agencies interested in providing financial help to the education and health sectors.

Previously, he said, due to the lack of basic information, neglected areas were not given due attention and at some points there were duplication of projects.

Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari assured the NRB chief that the whole network of Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL) could be used to promote data collection for the NRB.

He emphasized the need for engaging educated and trained personnel to collect and confirm data from villages and smallest units of newly established district governments.

Mr Leghari also emphasized the need for engaging the private sector in collecting information and making it available to the public.