This was revealed in the country’s National E-Government Strategy document released at the opening of a two-day e-government strategy conference here on Monday.

According to the document, in year costs for the year 2011-2012 are expected to run to 95 million pula (14.39 million U.S. dollars) , and in next five years the government will spend over 500 million pula in the programme.

Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration Mokgweetsi Masisi said at the opening that this programme aims to sharpen the strategies to deliver customer centric services to people in the most efficient and effective manner, and to grow the national competitive advantage.

Botswana launched in 2007 the National Information and Communications Technology Policy, better known as Maitlamo, providing Botswana with a roadmap to leverage Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to drive social, economic, cultural and political transformation.

“Global competitiveness indicators reveal that Botswana is continuing to slide, especially on measures relating to ICT- dependant services, such as the ease of doing business. We recognize this unfortunate circumstance as a clear sign that whilst ICT is indispensable to the modern economy,” Masisi said.

He said Botswana should take advantage of technology and e- Government to enhance productivity, as well as inculcating a new culture through appropriate mindsets, skills-set and regulatory framework.

Joseph Tion, representative from a Singaporean E-government Leadership Institute said that his country, which implemented its e-government systems almost 30 years ago, has been using 3-5 billion U.S. dollars every year for the last 30 years.

“E-government is a journey, not a destination. It is an ongoing investment, a change of the way you do business in your country,” Tion said.

According to the document, the term e-government describes the “access and delivery of government information and services using modern day ICT (Information and Communications Technology) - primarily the Internet, computers, landline telephones and mobile telephones.

The Botswana e-government strategy will be implemented through five major programmes: the Portal Enhancement Programme (PEP) which will develop and strengthen the portal as the primary service delivery vehicle for government’s services, and the Multiple Access Programme (MAP) which will consolidate ongoing efforts to ensure an effective approach is introduced for providing government information and services through multiple channels.

Other programmes include the Technical Rationalisation and Integration Programme (TRIP), the Botswana’s e-Government Service Transformation, Reform, Organisational & Network Governance (Be STRONG) as well as the Skills Transformation in support of e- government (STEP) government.