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GOVERNMENT’S Information Communication Technology (ICT) project is moving apace, and is scheduled to be completed by September.
Project Head, Alexei Ramotar said that initially, the project was expected to be completed in June; however, there have been some issues with the design in terms of soil testing, which resulted in the delay.
Notwithstanding this, work is ongoing on 12 sites where towers are being constructed to facilitate the Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. LTE is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data. Four kilometres of fibre-optic cable is being rolled out in Georgetown which will be connecting the ministries and government agencies. This will be extended to the University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus, as well as locations along the coast.
Ramotar said that this project has been envisaged as one that will see the construction of ICT infrastructure to cater for the growing demands for services of both existing and future industries. This, he said, is now a prerequisite in order to drive economic growth and development.
“Many companies require this now, and one of the important things in this kind of development is the need for very strong infrastructure, so the idea is to follow suit on what countries like Rwanda and Australia have been doing to develop strong ICT infrastructure,” he said.
At present, remedial work is being done on the cable coming from Brazil. This is because certain sections along the Lethem road are very rocky which prevented the burying of the cable at the requisite depth and as such, it is open to damage.
Additionally, there are at least three areas on the East Bank of Demerara where there has been vandalism of the cable. Ramotar explained that persons are cutting the cable in search of copper, which it does not contain. As a result, approximately 30 kilometres of cable has to be fixed.
The E-Government unit is still looking for an alternative location at Plaisance for the construction of a tower after residents raised concerns with regard to the playfield that was seen as an ideal location, since it was outside of the flight-path from the Ogle International Airport.
Approximately $300,000 has already been spent on the location before government was forced to cease construction works.
Ramotar said that the idea was to serve the community of Plaisance, and explained that based on consultations with stakeholders, the general feedback with regard to this project is positive.
“We have not heard any community say this is a bad service from our consultations. When we spoke to residents at Plaisance, they never said they do not want the project, it’s just the location of the tower that was of concern to them,” Ramotar said.
A total of 55 towers would be erected in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, and 10, and they would provide the coastal backbone needed for Guyanese to enjoy internet connectivity.
This project was designed using fibre optic and LTE which would enable high-capacity data usage. Consultations were held with various agencies, including the Guyana Police Force, which outlined what their requirements are.
The Data Centre at Castellani House will house some of the support systems, but given the nature of the work of the police, they will host their support system elsewhere using the connectivity provided by the fibre-optic network.
With regard to security measures to protect data on the network, the Virtual Private Network (VPN) is being used. This model will allow organisations such as the GPF to use their own security encryption, in addition to that which will be used by the Unit, which is more of a proprietary security measure.
The Data Centre will act as the control for the network, and will have the ability to add e-government services and users and allow for managing of sites.
“So we will only see data packages going through, but we wouldn’t know what’s in them,” Ramotar explained.
There is also a cable running from Moleson Creek, Region 6 to Parika, Region 3 as part of the coastal project. This is being done in tandem with the project being executed by the Guyana Power & Light (GPL) Inc., which is running a fibre-optic component in its 69 kva transmission cable. This way, government does not have to spend additional money on extra fibre.
When asked if government plans to retail bandwidth to private entities when this project comes on stream, Ramotar said that this is unlikely; however, it may look at wholesaling it to large organisations in the future.
By the end of the year, the project head is hoping to have an electronic library (e-library) up and running in the interim, while agencies bring onboard the services that they will be offering the public.
The cost of the entire project is US$32M, and it encompasses installation of a high-speed, fibre-optic backhaul network connecting Moleson Creek to Anna Regina, to a data centre at Providence, creation of a Data Centre for the development of e-government applications, and installation of high-speed wireless access using 4G network to all major population centres.
It is estimated that all major government offices and institutions will be within the coverage area, serving an estimated 40,000-60,000 households. Fibre-optic cables will then be used to connect agencies with the largest requirement for data.
These will include:the Guyana Revenue Authority; Office of the President; Ministries of Health, Education, Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs, and Finance; Police and Guyana Defence Force Headquarters, and the University of Guyana (Tain and Turkeyen Campuses).
Project Head, Alexei Ramotar said that initially, the project was expected to be completed in June; however, there have been some issues with the design in terms of soil testing, which resulted in the delay.
Notwithstanding this, work is ongoing on 12 sites where towers are being constructed to facilitate the Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. LTE is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data. Four kilometres of fibre-optic cable is being rolled out in Georgetown which will be connecting the ministries and government agencies. This will be extended to the University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus, as well as locations along the coast.Ramotar said that this project has been envisaged as one that will see the construction of ICT infrastructure to cater for the growing demands for services of both existing and future industries. This, he said, is now a prerequisite in order to drive economic growth and development.
“Many companies require this now, and one of the important things in this kind of development is the need for very strong infrastructure, so the idea is to follow suit on what countries like Rwanda and Australia have been doing to develop strong ICT infrastructure,” he said.
At present, remedial work is being done on the cable coming from Brazil. This is because certain sections along the Lethem road are very rocky which prevented the burying of the cable at the requisite depth and as such, it is open to damage.
Additionally, there are at least three areas on the East Bank of Demerara where there has been vandalism of the cable. Ramotar explained that persons are cutting the cable in search of copper, which it does not contain. As a result, approximately 30 kilometres of cable has to be fixed.
The E-Government unit is still looking for an alternative location at Plaisance for the construction of a tower after residents raised concerns with regard to the playfield that was seen as an ideal location, since it was outside of the flight-path from the Ogle International Airport.
Approximately $300,000 has already been spent on the location before government was forced to cease construction works.
Ramotar said that the idea was to serve the community of Plaisance, and explained that based on consultations with stakeholders, the general feedback with regard to this project is positive.
“We have not heard any community say this is a bad service from our consultations. When we spoke to residents at Plaisance, they never said they do not want the project, it’s just the location of the tower that was of concern to them,” Ramotar said.
A total of 55 towers would be erected in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, and 10, and they would provide the coastal backbone needed for Guyanese to enjoy internet connectivity.
This project was designed using fibre optic and LTE which would enable high-capacity data usage. Consultations were held with various agencies, including the Guyana Police Force, which outlined what their requirements are.
The Data Centre at Castellani House will house some of the support systems, but given the nature of the work of the police, they will host their support system elsewhere using the connectivity provided by the fibre-optic network.
With regard to security measures to protect data on the network, the Virtual Private Network (VPN) is being used. This model will allow organisations such as the GPF to use their own security encryption, in addition to that which will be used by the Unit, which is more of a proprietary security measure.
The Data Centre will act as the control for the network, and will have the ability to add e-government services and users and allow for managing of sites.
“So we will only see data packages going through, but we wouldn’t know what’s in them,” Ramotar explained.
There is also a cable running from Moleson Creek, Region 6 to Parika, Region 3 as part of the coastal project. This is being done in tandem with the project being executed by the Guyana Power & Light (GPL) Inc., which is running a fibre-optic component in its 69 kva transmission cable. This way, government does not have to spend additional money on extra fibre.
When asked if government plans to retail bandwidth to private entities when this project comes on stream, Ramotar said that this is unlikely; however, it may look at wholesaling it to large organisations in the future.
By the end of the year, the project head is hoping to have an electronic library (e-library) up and running in the interim, while agencies bring onboard the services that they will be offering the public.
The cost of the entire project is US$32M, and it encompasses installation of a high-speed, fibre-optic backhaul network connecting Moleson Creek to Anna Regina, to a data centre at Providence, creation of a Data Centre for the development of e-government applications, and installation of high-speed wireless access using 4G network to all major population centres.
It is estimated that all major government offices and institutions will be within the coverage area, serving an estimated 40,000-60,000 households. Fibre-optic cables will then be used to connect agencies with the largest requirement for data.
These will include:the Guyana Revenue Authority; Office of the President; Ministries of Health, Education, Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs, and Finance; Police and Guyana Defence Force Headquarters, and the University of Guyana (Tain and Turkeyen Campuses).
