Digital Economy Enhancement Project: MoUs between MoITT, provincial govts still pending: World Bank

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has pointed out that the memorandum of understandings (MoUs) between the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) and the provincial governments, as laid down in the financing agreement of “Digital Economy Enhancement Project” (DEEP) of $78 million, are still pending.

Official documents of the Bank also stressed on stronger coordination among the project implementation entities and service providers in the federal and provincial governments for on-boarding of provincial and local government services.

The project has made good progress in implementation status and results report (ISR) period. The three designated accounts have been opened, disbursements have begun, project staff has been recruited, and procurement processes for key consultancies and IT infrastructure are under way.

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The establishment of the national data exchange layer and digital identification ecosystem has been affirmed as a priority for the federal government. However, stronger coordination is needed among the project implementation entities and service providers in the federal and provincial governments for on-boarding of provincial and local government services.

The MoUs between the MoITT and the provincial governments, as laid down in the Financing Agreement, are still pending. The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication in collaboration with the World Bank is implementing DEEP. The main objective of the programme is “to enhance the government’s capacity for digitally enabled public services delivery for citizens and businesses.”

The DEEP proposes a whole of government approach to develop the framework and technology that will increase access to and promote the use of digital services across Pakistan.

The project will develop Pakistan Digital Government Enterprise Architecture, which will create a government ecosystem transcending existing processes, including by mapping roles and responsibilities and setting key principles across technology, business, information, and service design. This digitalisation will not only provide ease to citizens and businesses but would also enable higher degree of transparency, lower the cost of processing, and increase the tax collection capabilities of the federal and provincial governments, which is one of the priority focus areas of the government.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025