The government has entered an agreement with China in which Uganda would receive a US$120m (about Shs219.6 billion) loan for development of the national Information Communication Technology (ICT) system infrastructure.
Appearing before the ICT committee chaired by Kigulu North MP Kafufu Baliddawa on Tuesday, State Minister for ICT John Alintuma Nsambu, said the Chinese government had accepted to takeover a five-year project which would help to overhaul the ICT sector.
"We want to be able to rollout ICT systems and services in a more coordinated fashion under our ICT strategic plan. Through the project we want ICT facilities to trickle down to the grassroots because the country has to appreciate ICT in order to fight poverty," Mr Nsambu said.
With the ICT master plan in place and funding available, the government through the ICT Ministry intendeds to create the Directorate for ICT Support, which would build up the core competencies necessary for information resource management. But according to MPs, specialised human resource capacity remains a challenge ahead of the project.
According to Mr Nsambu, the establishment of a national ICT backbone infrastructure would make internet connectivity easy. "With the completion of the project, commercial Internet Service Providers (IPS) in the country would find it cheaper to do business.
"Our aim is to increase ICT usage in the country," Mr Nsambu said.
The completion of the national ICT backbone would compete with the current link provided by the two national operators, MTN (256/512Kbps) and UTL (1.024 Mbps/2 Mbps. This will also help to expedite the detting up of a national network for delivery of Internet through a network linking higher education and tertiary education institutions in the country.
According to Mr Nsambu, Uganda will borrow $106 million from the China Export-Import Bank to build the national backbone infrastructure. But Daily Monitor has learnt that a Chinese company, Huaiwei Technologies, has already started the job even before Parliament approves the loan request.
"I apologise to parliament for the omission. It was not intentional but the circumstance under which the ICT ministry was formed coupled with the urgency for the Chogm this year, we had to beat deadlines," Mr Nsambu said.
In any case Chinese are using their money not ours," Mr Nsambu said.
"We hope to have cheaper and faster connectivity all over the country for voice, data and video. It would also enable e-government to be a reality because infrastructure would be developed. We are grateful to the Chinese government and as MPs we want our people to appreciate ICT," Mr Baliddawa said.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Yasiin Mugerwa & Risdel Kasasira
Quelle/Source: AllAfrica, 05.05.2007
