Vietnam - PM pushes World Bank project

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked relevant ministries, sectors and local governments to hasten the implementation of the Government's information and communications technology development project.

With a total budget of approximately $107 million, including a preferential loan of nearly $87.9 million from the World Bank, the project is an important part of the Government's strategy to develop e-government services.

The project aims to increase access to information about policies, services and administrative procedures and improve the efficiency and transparency of Government agencies, provide better public services and more effectively cope with corruption.

It was also expected to encourage businesses to participate more actively in utilising new information technologies.

So far, however, the project, along with eight others financed by the World Bank, is still experiencing sluggish capital disbursement. As originally planned, the bank loan will have been 100 per cent disbursed by 2010.

During a meeting earlier this week with representatives from the World Bank, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Minh Hong said that the ministry will order relevant sectors to work closely with the bank's supervising team to review barriers and propose punitive measures to accelerate the project's implementation.

The project was now expected to be completed by June 2013.

The scope of the project includes a strategic plan to modernise and increase the capacity of the General Statistics Office (GSO) to provide timely and reliable data on poverty and socio-economic development, as well as accelerating e-government development in the major regional cities of Hanoi, Da Nang and HCM City.

VIR - VNA

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