Fibre optic cable being run to link government ministries

Pubic servants will soon be able to communicate and collaborate more efficiently and effectively, with the provision of a fibre optic link to all ministries.{{more}}

The project, which is being implemented by Karib Cable at a cost of EC$432,389, is a component of the Electronic Government for Regional Integration Project (EGRIP).

At a press conference on Tuesday, October 4, at the Telecommunications Conference room at the CLICO Financial centre, Kingstown, Consultant in charge of Special Projects in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr Jerrol Thompson and Karib Cable’s Sales and Marketing Manager Kyle Dougan updated the media about the creation of an intranet to connect all government ministries and institutions in and around Kingstown.

An intranet is a private computer network, within an organization that uses Internet technologies.

Work on the installation of the fibre optic cable has already begun, which explains the excavation work being carried out over the past few weeks, in the Paul’s Avenue area, Dougan explained.

The Sales and Marketing Manager said that the business development team at Karib Cable has been working extremely hard to develop solutions to help the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines “to bring the country to the forefront of information and technology.”

“We are providing a link to all of the ministry offices and providing a fibre optic cable and also an end to end network solution…”

“So work is currently taking place, and the public may see us working in Paul’s Avenue, and what we are doing is working our way through Kingstown, as we put in the new infrastructure,” he explained.

An excited Thompson told the media that this new initiative will enhancement the government’s communication.

“This is going to help the different ministries communicate with each other and collaborate because that’s one of the things that sometimes stall government, in terms of that ability to collaborate…

“Sometimes things can go at a very snail’s pace, but if we are able to speed things up, we certainly are able to get things done more efficiently, more effectively and at a faster pace of time, as well as saving money,” he said.

Thompson also disclosed that over the past five years, the government has been building a government owned back bone for a network that connects all the ministries.

He said that he is aware that other service providers have their own networks, “but the government has been building its own. We had about 75 per cent of the different ministries connected, but I am pleased to say that with this particular project, we now move closer to 100 per cent.”

Thompson further pointed out that “the Ministry of Housing, the Ministry of Tourism, the Marion House as well as the Family Affairs Division are some of the institutions that were not connected to our network and now we are making sure that they are all connected.”

The project is expected to be completed within six months.(AA)