ISLAMABAD, Oct 12: Over Rs3.2 billion has been invested in information technology over the past two years, both by the public and private sectors.

This was stated by Minister for Science and Technology Dr Attaur Rehman at a seminar arranged by Askari Information System Limited (AISL) on “E-Government”.

Emphasizing the need for computer culture in our society, minister said, “we are offering the cheapest service in the whole south Asia in terms of internet rates and import duties on hard and softwares.

Internet facility has been extended to more than 582 cities. There is no precedent to the speed with which we have expanded our services.

More than 2 million people use internet facility in Pakistan and we hope that its subscribers will increase many folds in near future.

We are offering internet service on the fibre optics to more than 200 cities in Pakistan which speaks volumes for development of IT in Pakistan, he said.

We are undergoing an extensive consultation involving governments both at national and provincial levels, different multinationals operating in Pakistan, utilities such as Wapda, PTCL and SSGL/SNGL to introduce e-government in Pakistan.

Our basic focus is to facilitate the people in their daily business. If we incorporate e-government, people will be able to deposit their utilities through internet.

Dr Atta said grey area for the government is the lack of human resource both in terms of quality and quantity. We are heavily investing in this area and in next couple of years we will achieve our desired results.

Earlier, Zain Abid, Chief Executive, AISL said, e-government can do wonders provided we avail the opportunity. It can help us evolve sustainable policies for the development that can be a road map for better future, he said.