ISLAMABAD, July 5: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Prof Atta-ur-Rahman approved the E-government master plan here on Thursday after a detailed presentation on the project.

According to a press release the plan, which will cost about Rs2 billion, will be completed in 12 quarters. An amount of Rs800 million will be spent during this year.

Speaking at the occasion Prof Atta has said that the object behind the introduction of E-government plan is to improve efficiency of government departments and increase the level of transparency in all government transactions.

The minister informed that major components of the plan were Citizen on line, Development of Websites for 34 federal government ministries, electronic official gazette notification, electronic filing of tax returns, websites showing unrepealed statutes and case laws, development of websites of Pakistani missions abroad, electronic payment of utility bills, income tax, sales tax and other federal and provincial taxes etc.

It was decided that the entire work of E-government will be outsourced to local companies. The minister said that Pakistani information technology companies were fully capable of handling this project. The completion of the project will strengthen track record of Pakistani companies enabling them to get projects from the international market.

"No foreign company will be awarded any project under E- government plan," emphasized the minister. He also instructed the concerned officers to take necessary steps to avoid duplication so that government resources and time is not wasted.

The minister was informed that transformation to E-government has resulted in the decrease in expenditure in many countries. Some governments have managed to save up to 29 per cent; on basis of average the saving can safely be predicted to be at 10 per cent.

It was also decided to prioritize the division of federal government. Initially, E-government will be introduced in IT & telecom division, cabinet division and establishment division.

Another decision taken at the meting was that E-Commerce will also be part of the E-government project. And, uniform procurement rules will be formed with the approval of the cabinet.

To remove the problems being faced by general public regarding access of information, IT division will create a help-line where all sorts of general information will be accessible to the public.

Besides the minister, the meeting was attended by Secretary IT and Telecom Division Ashfaq Mahmood, other senior officers of the ministry and members of E-Government task force.