Government commits to ICT Development
Promises more efficient and effective delivery of goods and services
By Melissa Bryant
Reporter~SKNVibes.com
~~Adz:Right~~BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IN order to fund capital projects in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for the coming year, the IT sector has been allotted approximately EC$6.7M, which represents an 89 percent increase in comparison to last year’s allocation.
The increase was reported during the 2009 Budget Address delivered by the Minister of Finance, Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris, on Tuesday, December 16.
Deeming the Department of Technology “a key cornerstone to the development of the government’s agenda”, Harris praised the opening of the National ICT Centre as a significant milestone in the history of St. Kitts.
The National ICT Centre established in October 2007 with the objective of training government staff, individuals and private entities.
He revealed that a new portal would be established to make available all information that relates to the structure of the government in one location.
“This is the start of our e-government presence, and 2009 we will begin to provide some government services online. This will enable the everyday person to obtain over the internet some of the same information and services which presently can only be obtained by travelling and visiting the actual department,” said Harris.
According to his address, the Department is also spearheading the implementation of a strategy for modernising the public services process through IT deployment, which includes the modernisation of the Civil Registry so that that from 2009 all entries of births, deaths and marriages will be put into a searchable database.
Harris added that these facilities would be available on both St. Kitts and Nevis and would be integrated into many other critical functions that need access to this database, such as the central Statistics Department, passport office, the court system and the electoral office.
He further said that efforts to take control of a Country Code Top Level Domain had been effective and that the technological resource was being operated from the National ICT Centre.
“This means that requests from anywhere in the world for web sites and pages which have the registration ‘.kn’ will be managed, using technology which is located here in St. Kitts and Nevis. I encourage local businesses and those that are domiciled here to establish web sites and portals which present their business activities for the world to see and partake, and importantly, to register those internet sites and presences as a ‘.kn’ entity, which signifies the association with our dynamic and progressive society.”
He also declared the government’s intention to emphasise the importance of becoming computer-literate and adopting the technology to empower one’s self in this increasingly technological age.
Moreover, Harris reported that the appropriate legislation, including the Data Protection Act, the Privacy and Security Act and the E-Commerce Act, would be introduced to facilitate and support the increased deployment and use of cutting edge information technology throughout St. Kitts and Nevis.
