LAHORE: The Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) has designed and developed more than 500 official websites, of which 490 are in English and 18 in Urdu, for different government departments of the province.

As per the details shared by the PITB on Monday, with a keen focus on transparency and citizen facilitation, the PITB’s web presence team has developed these websites in line with government requirements offering optimized performance, scalability, improved loading times, and responsiveness, it was briefed during the meeting.

Furthermore, the PITB facilitates various government departments from strategy and consultation to design and development of the website, hence boosting the digital ecosystem in Punjab.

Commenting on the PITB achievement, Punjab IT Minister Dr Arslan Khalid told Business Recorder that the Punjab government fully understands the significance of the digital presence of its various departments and how it facilitates citizens and other stakeholders.

“The PITB’s web presence team has developed websites to build an effective mode of communication between the government and the citizens. These websites were playing an important role in disseminating essential information about government departments while ensuring transparency and citizen convenience bridging the state-citizen disconnect,” he added.

The PITB has been practising the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2013 to improve transparency. During the development of websites, the PITB trains the officials of concerned departments to upload and manage the content on their respective websites regularly and independently.

The Punjab government with the assistance of PITB has been facilitating various departments to establish portals to improve the online presence of the government. The top 10 featured websites developed by PITB amongst many others include CPEC, Web 3.0, SMU, CM Inspection Team, PESSI, Punjab Portal, Punjab Examination Commission, Lahore High Court, Punjab Police, Excise and Taxation Department, Punjab Information Technology Board, Punjab Procurement Regulatory Authority, Finance Department and Chief Minister Punjab. As per the PITB’s data, the total number of hits on these websites has crossed the mark of 8.5 billion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022