ISLAMABAD, Jan 26: The Ministry of Information Technology has approved a project worth Rs34.5 million to provide computers and internet facilities to all major press clubs of the country.

"It is distressing to learn that our press clubs still rely on archaic methods for receiving and disseminating information and realizing the financial constraints the press clubs face, the government has come up with this project to help improve dissemination of news in the shortest possible time," Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari said.

He said the main idea behind the project was to make full use of IT in equipping press clubs as well as the Press Information Department's offices with modern communication facilities to improve their functions.

The approval to the project was given at a meeting of the departmental development working party (DDWP) of the information technology ministry which was presided over by Secretary Khalid Saeed.

Under the project, a total of 122 press clubs in all four provinces as well as the Northern Areas would be equipped with computers and connected to the Internet and email facilities for instant exchange of information.

In addition, 11 press information centres/departments all over the country and two district press clubs in Azad Kashmir would also be provided with these facilities.

Each location would be equipped with a number of computers ranging from one to 10 depending on the size of the press club. In locations where there are two or more computers local area networking would also be provided and all computers would be connected to the Internet.

In his statement, Awais Leghari said to make full use of this facility, training component had been included in the project for providing on-site training at all press clubs where the facilities were provided.

"To ensure utilization of equipment delivery and sustainability after the life of the project each press club would enter into a formal agreement with the ministry," he said.

A similar project had already been implemented successfully by the ministry for the district bar associations where online access to statutory and case laws had been provided to lawyers and judges.

"This project has been highly successful and the user community has given a very positive feedback," he said, adding that IT enabling of the press clubs is also being done on similar lines to extend benefits of IT to the common man.

Mr Leghari emphasized the creation of knowledge repositories which could be leveraged for the creation of new knowledge. "Today in the paper-based systems such knowledge repositories are difficult to create and even those that are available have limited utility because they are difficult to access and search," he said.

After the implementation of the project, press clubs will be able to create electronic repositories which will provide instant access to information. The project also includes basic automation software at all locations to facilitate journalists in producing their news reports and articles online.

This would result in increased productivity of journalists as well as reducing the time for forwarding news to different news agencies. Similarly, for receiving information the press clubs would have the availability of vast resources of information on the Internet and other news services at their finger tips. Thus, they would be well-informed and in a better position to develop news stories and articles.