Source: Setting up of the National Data Centre complete: Govt – NewsDay Zimbabwe October 13, 2017
THE government says the setting up of the National Data Centre is complete and will be launched by year end, as it moves to digitise its operations.
BY MELODY CHIKONO
The National Information Communication Technology policy document which proposed the establishment of a quasi-government entity to monitor internet traffic was presented to the Office of the President and Cabinet early this year.
Addressing delegates at the Institute of Bankers of Zimbabwe Summer School in Nyanga on Monday, deputy chief secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet Ray Ndhlukula said government had received assurance from the Chinese that the centre was ready and they were putting final touches to it.
The data centre is being set up in collaboration with the Chinese government and will allow government to centralise information storage, management and protection.
“I was in discussion with the Chinese company that is working in establishing the data centre and they assured me that by December the centre should be up. We will now be able to share information across ministries unlike the current situation where we can’t,” he said.
While there have been fears that the centre will be used to breach individual privacy, Ndhlukula said the centre would enable quick decision making within government and was a drive towards cost cutting.
“We will now be able to connect government data and we will also have a platform on which we can make quick and informed decisions and cost cutting initiatives taking place,” he said.
Ndhlukula said the setting up of the data centre is one of the measures to make the country more competitive under the ease of doing business reforms.
Under the Ease of doing business initiative, a total of five Bills have been gazetted and enacted into law which include the Banking Act Amendment No. 12/2015 which was promulgated in May 2016, the Deeds Registry Amendment Bill, the Judicial Laws Ease of Settling Commercial Disputes Bill, the Movable Property Security Interests Bill and the Public Procurement and Disposable of Public Assets Bill.
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