September 1, 2003	Monday	Rajab 3, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 31: The projects of automation of the National Assembly, Senate and the information technology ministry were approved here in a ministerial review committee meeting.

The meeting was presided over by the information technology minister, Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari.

The meeting also approved several key projects under the e- government programme.

The minister asked the officials at the ministry to ensure timely completion of the projects to ensure provision of quality services to the people.

He hoped that the projects would go a long way in streamlining the functioning of the government departments picked up for automation in the first phase of the e-government programme.

He said the information made available would be supported by the state-of-the-art indexing technology so that the required information could be retrieved within a few seconds.

“The senators and the officials of the Senate Secretariat will be accessing the database directly over the Local Area Network, whereas the citizens will be able to access public information over the internet,” he said.

“This is in sharp contrast to the current system where information is maintained in stacks of paper file”.

He explained that under the existing system even the government officials have difficulty in retrieving the required information, whereas, it is practically impossible for the common citizens to gain access. He said the National Assembly would also be automated on similar lines and there would be linking between the two systems so that senators could electronically access the database of the National Assembly and vice versa.

Mr Leghari said the projects being launched by the information ministry underscored the continued commitment of the government to empower citizens and bring transparency and efficiency within the government departments by using the tool of information technology.

Mr Leghari said internet had already opened tremendous opportunities for the citizens to have access to the government, but, according to him access alone carried very little value.

“It is akin to having a delivery mechanism with nothing to deliver,” he said, adding the government should also be able to provide citizen services efficiently and the citizens should have a mechanism to track progress of the service.

The minister emphasized the need for developing these back- end systems given the fact that several citizen services were rendered at the provincial level. As such, he also directed the Electronic Government Directorate of the Ministry of Information Technology to strengthen its capabilities for providing support to the provincial governments and AJK in developing new projects aimed at improving the delivery of services to the citizens.