ICT division gets Taka 3974 crore for 2017-18 fiscal

Aiming to ensure overall development in IT sector in line with the Vision 2021 and the 7th Five Year Plan and for rapid expansion of IT, ITES services and boosting investment in ICT infrastructure, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith proposed an allocation of Taka 3,974 crore for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the budget for 2017-18 fiscal.

Placing the budget in the Parliament, Muhith said, "In this connection, we have already planned to set up 12 IT parks at the district HQs of Gopalganj, Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Rangpur and Barisal, Keraniganj in Dhaka, Comilla Sadar (South), Chittagong Port, Ramu in Cox's Bazaar, Singra in Natore, Companiganj in Sylhet, and KUET campus in Khulna" he added.

"Apart from this, we have taken initiatives to set up 7 IT training and incubation centers at seven locations across the country and to expand high speed fiber optical cable connectivity up to union level," Muhith added.

"We have taken a project titled "Digitizing Implementation Monitoring and Public Procurement" for the expansion of e-GP and increasing the capacity of public procurement management.

Under this project taken in collaboration with World Bank, e-GP system will be expanded to 23 large government organisations, he added. "As a result, we hope, 80 percent of public procurement tenders will be covered by e-GP," the finance minister added.