–?? ?but Ramotar says no decision yetThe investment of US$32 million in an e-governance project would facilitate large scale commercial operations as well.This was announced yesterday by Alexei Ramotar, who manages the project.“There would be excess bandwidth,” he told reporters at the Office of the President, which manages the funding for the project.That “excess bandwidth”, he said, could be sourced to large organisations.? Those “large organisations” could include commercial ventures,Custom Juventus Jerseys, added Kwame McCoy, the project’s Information Officer.However, Ramotar and McCoy both insisted that no decision has been made by the government whether it would indeed facilitate commercial operations using a tax-funded project. Ramotar did say that the government is not into retail.Ramotar said that the project is expected to be completed by September this year and would not overrun the US$32 million budget.The E-Government Project consists of the setting up of a Data Centre,Arturo Vidal Jersey, a transmission network and the data network.The Data Centre, or the control centre, is being housed in the compound of Castellani House in the same building that is used for the Central Intelligence Agency.The Transmission Network stretches from Moleson Creek on the Corentyne Coast to Charity on the Essequibo Coast. The cable runs from Lethem in the Rupununi through Linden to Georgetown.It consists of a fiber network and microwave network. Fiber will be available from Lethem to Georgetown, Moleson Creek to Parika, while microwave will be available from Moleson Creek to Charity. From Parika to Moleson Creek the network allows a fallover from fiber to microwave for all sites.By way of the Access Network,Custom Bayern Munich Jerseys, all major Government facilities in the coverage areas will be connected via fiber and or 4G wireless Cellular services.According to handouts provided to the media,Andre Gomes Jersey, approximately all major Government agencies and offices are within the coverage area.The Project team said the network is designed to be easily extendable and will provide a range of services such as “E-Health” allowing for video consultation, movement of information from one health center to another and tracking disease outbreaks.Regarding security, the project would allow quick transmission of information including video and data between police stations.In education,Alex Sandro Jersey, the project would set up an “E-library” which would allow for access to textbooks and other teaching aids that can be used by students and schools, thereby lowering cost.Poor families who cannot pay for the internet would be hooked up to the internet at community centres in various areas, such as in the hinterland.The project came about following an audit which showed that the government’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure was weak.In 2009, the Government signed an agreement with China’s Huawei Technologies Ltd,Juventus Jerseys, which advanced the project.Through the E-Government project, the government is seeking to enhance the Government services offered to the people but also radically transform the ICT infrastructure of Guyana and bring it more on par with the rest of the Caribbean.The project team said that over the course of the project several changes were made. The biggest changes were switching from WiMax and EVDO technologies to LTE-Advanced and using a modular data centre approach over the traditional data centre.The infrastructure will be using Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology to provide a robust and easily scalable backbone network. The system is designed for 10 years use before upgrades are required. This is the primary link connecting Guyana, through Brazil to the internet.The project will then deploy Fiber and LTE Advanced cellular sites to provide access for users in the major population centers. It is estimated that all major Government offices and institutions will be within the coverage area serving an estimate 40,000 to 60,000 households.