Provision of computers, laptops by USAID: jubilation among Water, Power Ministry officials

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has sought to improve efficiency in Ministry of Water and Power through provision of computers and laptops. This has led to jubilation among even those Ministry officials who do not know how to operate a computer.
"US government-sponsored 'Power Distribution Program' has started providing computers, laptops, servers and printers to the Ministry of Water and Power. The IT infrastructure equipment is aimed to improve the working capacity of Ministry staff to improve their internal and external communications. The existing IT infrastructure at the Ministry is pretty rudimentary with very little internal or external communications," said an official statement.
Secretary, Water and Power, it is alleged, is more engaged with processing job applications from political candidates sent by the Minister, instead of pursuing the critical reforms in Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) and a new state-of-the-art computer is unlikely to compel him to be productive.
According to USAID, IT infrastructure will assist the Ministry use computers for internal and external communication and shifting from traditional manual systems to computerised and online systems, which will lead to improved productivity and efficiency.
"Lack of IT facilities results in low efficiency as the Ministry officials spend a lot of time searching for cases, locating earlier decisions or summaries and travelling to attend meetings," the statement added.
USAID maintains that providing new computers will save time and frustration caused by using old, obsolete and virus infected computers. "A basic Case Tracking System (CTS) can help transform the manual logging and registration of files as they move from officer to officer that are many times lost in the traffic," said Robert Kolling, USAID Advisor to the Ministry of Water and Power, on the occasion of handing over the first batch of equipment to the ministry officials.
With the installation of a local e-mail server, a culture of faster communication among the ministry officials and subsidiaries can commence, especially on routine matters and basic information sharing. USAID Power Distribution Program is assisting Pakistan power sector in improving its overall performance and reducing losses. One component of this assistance is the advisory services provided by the Power Sector Reform Working Group (PSRWG) based at the Ministry of Water and Power. Working with the officials of the Ministry, this group has identified the need to update and expand the current Information Technology (IT) infrastructure at the Ministry.