The portal began functioning to the public on 3 March, out of its home base at the National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centre. According to ICT Policy Advisor Pierre Bowrin, the Web portal is the first of its kind to be hosted in St. Kitts/Nevis and forms part of the e-government strategy.
Bowrin gave some background to the project, explaining that the ICT Strategic Plan was implemented in 2006 and had several goals; to make government operations more efficient and establish a platform that can better disseminate information to the Federation’s citizens. Bowrin said he was certain the project would address the two areas.
The ICT Centre advisor said a Web portal is a one stop place, where you can find different aspects of information. In this case www.gov.kn is specific to government information.
Pertaining to the content on the Web portal, Bowrin said each ministry is responsible for uploading its own information. He took the opportunity to encourage the individuals from the ministries designated as web content providers, to continue to upload current information.
The ICT policy advisor also revealed some new features such as a search engine which would bring up events, news items and forms with the corresponding words. He also highlighted the content management style which enables the different ministries to be responsible for their own information.
Bowrin added the Web portal has links to mainly regional bodies including Caricom and OECS as well as other bodies with which the various departments have agreements. Ministries may also have Web sites that can be accessed through the Web portal.
Government workers were urged to use the e-mail service provided, as it would increase efficiency and prove more cost effective to government, since all information would not have to be printed, but could be e-mailed instead.
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Quelle/Source: Sun St.Kitts/Nevis, 06.05.2008
