High-Tech park soon to extend ICT sector

The government will make a new law titled Bangladesh High-tech Park Authority Act 2009 aiming to attract foreign investors into making investment in the country’s dormant IT sector for achieving its envisioned goal of ‘Digital Bangladesh’ by 2021, report agencies.
In this regard, the government will set up a High-Tech park at 232 acres of land at Kaliakoir in Gazipur district soon to further extend the sector. An ICT university will be set up there under public- private partnership.
Secretary of the Ministry of Science and Information and Communications Technology (SICT) Secretary Abdul Awal Majumdar said this while briefing the journalists on ‘Vision 2021-Digital Bangladesh’ at the PID conference room in the city on Thursday.
Referring to progress achieved by the SICT ministry in last one year, he said, of five crore mobile users in the country, about 46 lakh have got internet connections.
About implementation of ‘Vision-2021’, he said cent per cent people would be brought under ICT network till 2021.
He said the philosophy of ‘Digital Bangladesh’ as announced by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is to make successful by using latest technology to solve the problems related to different sectors including health, education, employment poverty alleviation and climate change issues.
The Secretary said that about 8,000 ICT training centers are now operating in the country to train thousands of youths. In Dhaka there are 500-computer hardware showrooms and it is increasing gradually.
The government, meanwhile, formulated ICT policy-2009 where there are 306 action plans. 49 ministries have been involved in implementing the action plans. Bangladesh Computer Council has taken several steps in this regard.
He said controller of certificate authority has been set up to introduce digital signature, which will help using online services.
Complete computer labs are operating in 128 government organizations in 64 districts. Computer labs will be set up in each upazila by phases. Information centers have been set up in 14 union parishad, he added.
E-governance has been introduced to update all administrative services as well as ensure transparency and accountability.
He said e-ticketing has been introduced in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Novotheater. The pilot project of payment of electric, gas and telephone bills through mobile phone has been extending gradually.
About 458 technologists have been appointed in different departments under the SICT ministry to extend ICT programmes.
President of Bangladesh Computer Society Mostafa Jabbar, Executive Director Mahfuzur Rahman and PIO AKM Shameem Chowdhury were present.