Jigmi Wangdi 

The Digital Drukyul Flagship Project is 72 percent complete, according to Communications Lyonpo Karma Donnen Wangdi.

Member from Chhumig-Ura, Karma Wangchuk, asked Lyonpo about the status of the project during the question hour of the second sitting of the eighth session at the National Assembly November 8.

Lyonpo said that the project is vast consisting of eight different projects. The revised budget that the MoIC received amounted to Nu 2.676 Billion.

“Nu 1.716 Billion has been spent on the projects so far,” said Lyonpo.

Lyonpo said that each project has multiple aspects pertaining to improving the digital ecosystem in the country to allow citizens to access effective public services.

The National Digital Identity project is 77 percent completed. This includes the biometric data collection of the citizens of the country.

“We have been able to collect the data of 482,341 citizens so far. The biometric data collection is currently taking place in Thimphu, Samtse, and Sarpang,” Lyonpo said.

The Government-Initiated Network is almost 97 percent complete. The project includes connecting schools, offices, hospitals and institutes to the fibre-optic government network.

“We have connected a total of 1,578 government agencies and institutes so far,” Lyonpo said.

The Digital School Project under the flagship is 84 percent completed. The project is working on Learning Management System and Education Management Information System.

“We are currently training teachers to use the two systems,” Lyonpo said.

The Bhutan Integrated Taxation System project remains to be completed. Lyonpo highlighted the major benefits of the project to the country if made properly and used well.

The project includes developing direct tax, goods and service tax, and integrated revenue and payment system. Lyonpo said that the project on the goods and services tax has been postponed for the time being.

The other projects under the flagship include Domestic Network Re-enclosure, Integrated Citizens Service, Integrated Business Licensing System, and the Electronic Patient Information System.

Lyonpo said that other than Bhutan Integrated Taxation System, all the projects would be completed by next year.

Digital Drukyul Flagship project was approved during the financial year 2019-2020.