Designing e-Government for the Poor - Tanzania Development ...

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Myanmar
population lives in rural areas without proper ICT facilities. It is necessary
not only to install proper ICT facilities, but also to promote the usage of
these facilities and the benefits of ICT.
The scope of the proposed project is to connect rural areas to the
national ICT network, and establish multi-purpose community centres
(MCC) where e-services can be provided at an affordable price. The
service fees and extra capacity of the network apart from MCCs, will be
utilized for the purpose of self sustainability by providing connections
within the coverage area of the WLL.
The project will cover the rural areas in all of the seven states and
seven divisions that make up Myanmar. Each area will be covered by 10
CorDECT wireless local loop systems, each with 200 lines capacity, 50 of
which will be for both voice and data at 35/70 kbps. A total of 500 lines will
connect 100 multi-purpose community centres in each state or division to the
Internet. Each corDECT system will be connected to the Myanmar Posts and
Telecommunications backbone via 1~3 hops Digital Microwave Radio System
(4E1). Equipment for an Internet node point is also provisioned. One ipStar
satellite terminal per MCC is included for backup and slack period usage. The
project is for a total of 28,000 lines, and will provide 1,400 multi-purpose
community centres depending on the availability of soft loans provided.
B. Cost estimates and financing plan
The total cost of the project is estimated at US$ 92 million. Foreign
sources will provide US$ 68 million (74 per cent), and local sources will
provide US$ 24 million (26 per cent). The local component includes the
costs of buildings, furniture, transmission towers, groundings, airconditionings,
chargers, batteries, local fees, taxes and duties.
The project will be financed with/in the form of soft loans from foreign
governments or donor agencies such as ADB. The local component will come
from the government budget and Myanmar Posts & Telecommunications.
COST ESTIMATES
(US$ million)
Component
A. Cost per state/division
Foreign Local Total cost
1. MCCs (100) 2.5 0.75 3.25
2. CorDECT system (10) 1.0 0.20 1.20
3. Microwave radio (10) 1.0 0.76 1.76
4. IPStar terminal (100) 0.3 – 0.30
Sub Total (A)
B. Internet node
4.8 1.71 6.51
1. Hardware/software 0.3 0.008 0.308
C. Contingencies 0.5 0.052 0.552
Sub total (B,C) 0.8 0.06 0.86
Grand total (14 states/divisions) 68.0 24.00 92.00