Provincial government gets on IT track
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi has announced a government drive to ensure that every provincial government department on the island will have its own web site by the end of the year, and that all departments will start using email to share information. His announcement came at a meeting of departmental heads at the Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday, held to discuss the development of the government’s IT system and how to overcome the hurdles to making the civil service more effective by using technology. Gov Pongayome told the conference, “The most important problem is that few government officers understand how [linked] computers operate as a system.” A committee has been set up to develop and maintain the web sites and to ensure they stay up and running. The committee will also be responsible for keeping the sites free of links to ‘improper’ sites. “Some government web sites in other provinces are not well maintained and have links to ‘improper’ sites,” said Gov Pongpayome. “This creates a negative attitude towards the government.” In addition to its web duties, the committee will be responsible for training government officials in IT.
