As more Asian governments realize the benefits of e-government, technology vendors recently admitted that they’re still having a hard time selling to public servants. "Funding is always a problem," Koh Hong Eng, director of the industrial strategy and development of Sun Microsystems Pte. Ltd’s government and transportation group, explains Sun's strategy to bag more government projects in the region.
Koh said Sun hopes to land e-government projects by shouldering some of the financial risks. "There's a move towards Sun being involved in so-called build-to-operate projects in government," he said.
The proverbial digital divide is another factor slowing down e-government projects in Asia, added Koh. "This is why we're now working with governments to narrow [it]. The key here is to offer e-government any device, or through public kiosks," he said.
In a separate interview, the Filipino Commission on Information and Communications Technology chairman Virgilio Peña meanwhile admitted that lack of funding could slow down e-government initiatives in the Philippines. "But this does not mean individual projects will fail," he said.
On Tuesday, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo approved the release of a billion-peso e-government fund to be used for IT-related government projects in the country.
This fund is part of the General Appropriations Act for 2005 approved by the Senate three weeks ago.
Autor: Erwin Lemuel Oliva
Quelle: INQ7 Interactive, 17.03.2005
