Govt asked for digital Bangladesh roadmap

 

A prominent lawmaker of the Awami League-led alliance on Saturday expressed apprehensions about proper allocation for information and communication technology sector in the next budget in keeping with the government’s pre-election pledge to build a digital Bangladesh.

Hasanul Haque Inu, chairman of the parliamentary standing on post and telecommunications ministry, called on the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to announce in 2010-2011 budget a roadmap for digital Bangladesh which, he said, was still missing.

‘There was no reflection of digital Bangladesh in the current budget. The government will not be able to come up with an excuse this time,’ he said at a roundtable on import duty on mobile phone sets at Spectra Convention Centre.

Inu insisted that the government should stop the tug of war between the BTRC and the Post and Telecommunications Ministry to ensure fair and business-friendly regulations for the sector.

AB Mirza Azizul Islam, a former finance adviser to the interim government, too expressed doubts about the implementation of pledges made and steps taken so far to support the ICT sector.

‘It’s important to present a survey report on the state of implementation of the budget. I have apprehensions about the progress in this regard,’ he added.

Dhanshiri Communi-cation Ltd organised the roundtable to generate opinions on specific duty on mobile phone sets at the import level, as demanded by Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers Association.

‘The government can make it a flat rate or may consider it [mobile phone set] as ICT product,’ said Mostafa Rafiqul Islam, president of the association.

Inu suggested that there should be a flat rate of duty or zero duty on import of mobile phone sets as the availability of this technology among commoners was part of a greater campaign to alleviate poverty.

‘It’s unfortunate that we fall behind Afghanistan in telephone penetration,’ the member of parliament said.

Currently, the National Board of Revenue imposes variable duty rates — a method which, business leaders said, encouraged smuggling of sets into the local market and created hassle.