E-post to revolutionise rural landscape
Sonia H Moni | Saturday, 19 March 2011
Sonia H Moni
The project, which is set to transform the country's rural post offices into electronic-post centres, is expected to be approved in the next meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) this month, officials said. Mobasherur Rahman, director general of Bangladesh Post Office (BPO), told the FE, "We are hopeful that the project will be approved this month and BPO will have Tk1.0 billion at the first phase as per the proposal of Planning Commission." "We will start turning 1000 village post offices into e-post centres as part of the government's move to narrow the gap of digital process between rural and urban areas. We expect this work to be completed by July, 2012," he said. The BPO chief said, "The government will gradually approve the fund for Tk 6.0 billion for renovation of village post offices after evaluating the progress of the postal department." Under the plan -- the biggest BPO project in its history -- some 6,000 rural post offices will turn into 'e-post centres' at phases with all electronic equipment. Mr Rahman said: "For more than a century village post offices have been delivering mails, documents, parcels and transferred money orders only. E-post centres will 'revolutionise' the operation of the rural post offices across the country." "Each of the selected post offices will have a laptop, web-cam, photo printer, generator and solar panel including internet connection," the BPO DG said, adding there would be a maintenance unit in every sub-district for repair jobs. "Through the web-cam a villager can interact live with his migrant son anywhere in the world. The post offices which do not have electricity connections will be powered by solar panels," he said. He said rural people would get health, agriculture and education-related information from these centres at the cheapest cost. "The centres will also provide rural school and college students with advanced reading materials." Experts said the latest project was part of the 150-year-old department's soul-searching moves to renovate itself in the wake of massive competition from courier services and mobile phones. Due to the proliferation of the mobile phones, the BPO has been delivering around 10 million letters every year since 2000. Private courier services have also eaten up a big chunk of BPO's parcel services. Following the department incurring a record loss of Tk 1.50 billion in 2008-09 fiscal year and Tk 940 million in 2009-10, BPO has launched services like electronic or mobile money transfer, cash card and such others which improved the business of it. The BPO has around 10,000 post offices throughout the country. It employs some 40,000 postmen and runners, making it one of the biggest public sector employers in the country. Mr. Rahman said his department's expanded network has made it unique, as it is the only government organisation that has presence in every nook and cranny of the country.
The project, which is set to transform the country's rural post offices into electronic-post centres, is expected to be approved in the next meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) this month, officials said. Mobasherur Rahman, director general of Bangladesh Post Office (BPO), told the FE, "We are hopeful that the project will be approved this month and BPO will have Tk1.0 billion at the first phase as per the proposal of Planning Commission." "We will start turning 1000 village post offices into e-post centres as part of the government's move to narrow the gap of digital process between rural and urban areas. We expect this work to be completed by July, 2012," he said. The BPO chief said, "The government will gradually approve the fund for Tk 6.0 billion for renovation of village post offices after evaluating the progress of the postal department." Under the plan -- the biggest BPO project in its history -- some 6,000 rural post offices will turn into 'e-post centres' at phases with all electronic equipment. Mr Rahman said: "For more than a century village post offices have been delivering mails, documents, parcels and transferred money orders only. E-post centres will 'revolutionise' the operation of the rural post offices across the country." "Each of the selected post offices will have a laptop, web-cam, photo printer, generator and solar panel including internet connection," the BPO DG said, adding there would be a maintenance unit in every sub-district for repair jobs. "Through the web-cam a villager can interact live with his migrant son anywhere in the world. The post offices which do not have electricity connections will be powered by solar panels," he said. He said rural people would get health, agriculture and education-related information from these centres at the cheapest cost. "The centres will also provide rural school and college students with advanced reading materials." Experts said the latest project was part of the 150-year-old department's soul-searching moves to renovate itself in the wake of massive competition from courier services and mobile phones. Due to the proliferation of the mobile phones, the BPO has been delivering around 10 million letters every year since 2000. Private courier services have also eaten up a big chunk of BPO's parcel services. Following the department incurring a record loss of Tk 1.50 billion in 2008-09 fiscal year and Tk 940 million in 2009-10, BPO has launched services like electronic or mobile money transfer, cash card and such others which improved the business of it. The BPO has around 10,000 post offices throughout the country. It employs some 40,000 postmen and runners, making it one of the biggest public sector employers in the country. Mr. Rahman said his department's expanded network has made it unique, as it is the only government organisation that has presence in every nook and cranny of the country.