A meeting on the implementation of ‘National Municipal Digital Service Project (NMDSP)’ aimed at implementing digital services in 328 municipalities across Bangladesh with the financial and technical support of the South Korean government was held in the meeting room of the Information Communication Technology Department on Tuesday.
State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak was present as the chief guest on the occasion. The meeting was attended by, among others, Managing Director, Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority Dr. Bikarna Kumar Ghosh, and Korea International Co-operation Agency (KOICA), Bangladesh Country Director Young-Ah Doh, members of the Korean expert team involved in the project, representatives of the local government department and senior officials of the Information Communication Technology Department.
At the meeting, it was decided to implement a total of seven services in the existing 328 municipalities of the country, including two services in Holding Tax Assessment and Public Complaint, along with 5 services already piloted in one city corporation and nine municipalities.
The ICT Minister also requested KOICA to add five more new services under the project on priority basis. Koika will provide financial support as a grant for the implementation of the project. The technical assistance project has been approved by the South Korean government. The grant amounted to USD 8.5 million. The project will be implemented in collaboration with A2I, Department of Information and Communication Technology and Bangladesh Computer Council under ICT Department.
KOICA has come forward to provide this payment as 5 previously piloted services have been successfully implemented.
Later, a meeting was held with Japan International Development Organization (JICA) on the implementation of Smart Bangladesh Vision Masterplan funded by Japan as part of the implementation of Vision 2041 of the present government. JICA Chief Representative in Bangladesh Yuho Hayakawa, ICT Department and its affiliated agencies and JICA officials were present.