Kathmandu, May 5:

Work on the establishment of a Government Integrated Data and Training Centre (GIDTC) will begin this year. The government decided to go ahead with the project after the Korean government expressed commitment to provide $2.5 million for the project.

Though the e-government master plan, formulated last year, had prioritised the establishment of the GIDTC, the project work could not start due to lack of funds.

In April, the Korean government told the government that it will provide the grant assistance to the National Information and Technology Centre (NITC) for the project. A technical team of the Korean government is coming to Nepal in the third week of May to finalise the grant and supervise the project. According to Subarna Shakya, executive director of the NITC, project work will kick off once the Bill for the establishment of the GIDTC is endorsed.

“The GIDTC is a must for any country to safeguard its data and run offices without the risk of having its data lost or corrupted,” Shakya said. Work on the project will start this year, he said, adding that it will take three years to complete the project.

“The amount pledged by the Korean government is enough to start the project. We hope to get budgetary support from the government and funds from other donors to complete our works on time.”

Components of the GIDTC include a data centre and a training centre, which will be built inside Singha Durbar in around five ropani of land.

The GIDTC will store confidential and important data of all government offices with high security. The training centre will be a well-equipped one, with every available technology to train government employees.

“It will also generate employment opportunity to unemployed engineers,” said Ranjan Baral, a computer engineer at the NITC. Over 50 engineers will be employed, he said. All government data will be accessible to the public at the GIDTC, he said.