Accra, May 4, GNA - The Project Manager of the National Portal, the official Website of Government, Mr Alphonse Koblavie on Thursday urged the Government to expand budgetary allocation to the project, to enable it to acquire modern technology for efficient operation. He said the current technology used by the project was outmoded and, therefore. prevented possibilities of expanded programmes such as operating on a Wider Area Network (WAN) and printing of certain information pasted on the Website.

Mr Koblavie made the appeal during a presentation at a seminar on E-Governance in Accra.

The seminar, which is under the theme: "Promoting E-Governance through National Portals," ends on Thursday.

Mr Koblavie said National Portal needed to be modernized to help to provide timely and current information on all sectors of the country including governance and businesses, so that people could have elaborate and updated information to make informed choices. "We need to procure new computers, printers, scanners, digital cameras to enhance our Local Area Network (LAN) for enhanced communication and build capacity of the staff."

Mr Koblavie said since the establishment of the National Portal in April 2003, as part of the e-governance strategy to disseminate public information online, a 12-member team had been working tirelessly to ensure its sustenance.

He mentioned some it its sources of information as the Ghana News Agency, Public Relations Officers of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as the print media.

He complained about undue delays in the release of certain vital information from certain quarters of Government, saying such frustrations prevented the project from winning the needed push against others such as the Ghanaweb.

He urged all MDAs to hasten efforts to develop their own websites so as to ensure easy networking and collaboration between the various sectors and the National Portal for enhanced public services.

Mr Koblavie also appealed for more support for IT personnel in the various MDAs, including skills training, remuneration and other incentives, to stop them from moving to the private sector.

Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Deputy Minister of Information and National Orientation, urged the managers of the National Portal to make extra efforts to ensure that the Website was updated regularly to feature timely and current events in the country.