THE Guyana Government’s E-Governance Project launched under former President Bharrat Jagdeo will this year begin to bear fruit, with the installation of more than 54 Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) Towers across the country, along with computer banks being installed in each Amerindian Village.

The announcement came Monday last when Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh rolled out the 2013 Budget and said that this year, over $2B has been budgeted to advance the project.
According to Dr Singh, the money will be used for the construction of the towers that will be strategically placed in the most densely populated areas from Moleson Creek to Charity, Linden and Lethem.
“Once completed, e-Government services and content will be delivered to the major population centres using this network.”
Dr. Singh, in presenting the budget to the nation, said that in 2012, a total of $1.9B was invested by government on acquiring and installing critical ICT infrastructure.
This, he said, includes over 580 kilometres of fibre optic cable from Lethem to Georgetown, with five repeater stations along the route, constructing and commissioning the e-Government data centre, which is now being tested, “and procuring the equipment and software for the LTE-A sites which is the latest in 4G wireless technology.”

Promoting ICT sector
Dr. Singh told the House during his presentation that ICT continues to be one of the principal means through which government’s agenda for modernisation and transformation is being pursued.
“Government’s commitment to the sector is driven by the recognition of how much ICT can contribute to economic diversification, creation of new and emerging job opportunities, improving competitiveness of existing and new businesses, and empowering citizens,” said Dr. Singh.
He noted also that recognising the abundant benefits of ICT to be accrued to the citizenry of Guyana, “our government’s commitment is to bring ICT access and competence within the reach of every single Guyanese and to promote the ICT sector as a primary employer in its own right.”
Turning his attention to the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) Programme, Dr. Singh said that in order to ensure that the most vulnerable communities and individuals benefit from access to ICT, $1.6B was spent last year to procure over 28,000 laptops.
That brought the total number of laptops purchased under the programme to 56,000 laptops.
To date, 26,832 laptops have been distributed, and 18,714 persons have been trained, including 4,596 first time computer users.
The minister disclosed that as the programme continues to roll out in 2013, $2.5B has been allocated and will be used in part to purchase a further 34,000 laptops “for rolling out distribution more widely.”
He said too that included in the amount, is $500M that has been earmarked for the implementation of the programme in the hinterland, “which will see computer banks and supportive power supply installed in every Amerindian village.”
Dr. Singh said that “the result of all these initiatives will be a computer literate population, a more competent and competitive workforce, and accelerated investments in the ICT sector as a source of rapid job creation in Guyana.”