Daily Times

President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday called for timely completion of all processes with regard to the automation of the Parliament and make it digitally operational by January 2023.

Chairing a meeting on the President’s Initiative for Cyber Efficient Parliament (PICEP) here at Parliament House, the president emphasized that the digitalization would improve its efficiency as well as help in the smooth running of the legislative business of both the houses.

He said the digital parliament would greatly help improve the processes of planning, monitoring and control by using modern technology, besides providing its members easy access to data and files through the latest information technology tools. Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Amin ul Haque, Secretary IT&T Mohammad Sohail Rajput, Secretary Senate Secretariat Mohammad Qasim Samad Khan, Secretary National Assembly Secretariat Tahir Hussain, and the ministry officials attended the meeting. The meeting was apprised about the current status of the project and the steps taken to make the Parliament cyber-efficient. It was highlighted that the Departmental Development Working Party (DDWP) had approved the project amounting to Rs 1,950 million for four years, with an allocation of Rs 120 million for the current year.

It was further informed that the process of hiring of project staff had already been initiated and advertisements had been placed in newspapers in that regard. The ministry assured that it would execute the project by January 2023. The president appreciated the work of the ministry and assured his support to successfully execute the project within stipulated timelines. The Senate chairman and NA speaker also lauded the commitment of the ministry.