Remote region develops IT program
Russia's Northern Federal District, where until recently very few people had ever laid their eyes on a computer, is developing a $6 million information technology program to control its finances.
Apr 16, 2002
Russia's Northern Federal District, where until recently very few people had ever laid their eyes on a computer, is developing a $6 million information technology program to control its finances.
The 20,000-inhabitant autonomous district of Evenkiya, located within Krasnoyarsky Krai, a huge region in central Russia, has contracted two IT companies to develop infrastructure to enable district authorities to better monitor and control local resources.
"The task is to improve manageability of the region, whose territory is one-and-a-half times bigger than that of France," said Alexander Karpachyov, president of Parus, which is providing IT services for the project. "Budgetary resources should be managed more effectively, and the misuse of funds should be tracked down, too."
"Our aim is to cut the costs of managing the region," said Boris Zolotaryov, governor of Evenkiya. "Now we have too many people in finance and accounting whose work is far from effective because they don't use any technology."
The program will help cut the cost of running the region's government by 10 to 15 percent, Zolotaryov said.
"The number of officials in the region is beyond any criticism," he said. "There are 5,000 local officials, while the total population is only 20,000."
The task of building an IT-based resource-management system seemed daunting when Zolotaryov was elected governor of Evenkiya a year ago. The region had no infrastructure for an IT program.
So he contacted the company Sibintec and charged it with setting up an infrastructure for Internet-based solutions.
"The region was in poor condition in terms of telecoms infrastructure," said Konstantin Shabelinsky, manager of the Evenkiya project at Sibintec. "Basically, there was no infrastructure at all, and people barely saw computers let alone the Internet."
In the past year, an infrastructure that includes e-mail communication, an Internet and voice mail has been set up with the use of satellite channels and a Website for the region has been designed and put out on the Web," Shabelinsky said. "Now we're working on a uniform phone directory that will be available all over the region."
He added that the task for this year is to create at least 1,000 jobs involving IT.
According to Zolotaryov, the creation of IT infrastructure in the region will cost the local budget about $5 million, and another $1 million will be spent on software and training that will be provided by Parus. The district has already borrowed money for the program, using future tax revenues as a collateral, the governor said.
"We expect to begin reaping the benefits from the program around 2003 or 2004, and I hope that we'll be able to return our investment by 2005," Zolotaryov said.
The introduction of an IT-based resource-management system is divided into two stages. During the first stage, which began in February 2002 and will last through late August, finance-management software will be installed and put into service.
The second stage will involve the automation of all purchases in the region.
The 20,000-inhabitant autonomous district of Evenkiya, located within Krasnoyarsky Krai, a huge region in central Russia, has contracted two IT companies to develop infrastructure to enable district authorities to better monitor and control local resources.
"The task is to improve manageability of the region, whose territory is one-and-a-half times bigger than that of France," said Alexander Karpachyov, president of Parus, which is providing IT services for the project. "Budgetary resources should be managed more effectively, and the misuse of funds should be tracked down, too."
"Our aim is to cut the costs of managing the region," said Boris Zolotaryov, governor of Evenkiya. "Now we have too many people in finance and accounting whose work is far from effective because they don't use any technology."
The program will help cut the cost of running the region's government by 10 to 15 percent, Zolotaryov said.
"The number of officials in the region is beyond any criticism," he said. "There are 5,000 local officials, while the total population is only 20,000."
The task of building an IT-based resource-management system seemed daunting when Zolotaryov was elected governor of Evenkiya a year ago. The region had no infrastructure for an IT program.
So he contacted the company Sibintec and charged it with setting up an infrastructure for Internet-based solutions.
"The region was in poor condition in terms of telecoms infrastructure," said Konstantin Shabelinsky, manager of the Evenkiya project at Sibintec. "Basically, there was no infrastructure at all, and people barely saw computers let alone the Internet."
In the past year, an infrastructure that includes e-mail communication, an Internet and voice mail has been set up with the use of satellite channels and a Website for the region has been designed and put out on the Web," Shabelinsky said. "Now we're working on a uniform phone directory that will be available all over the region."
He added that the task for this year is to create at least 1,000 jobs involving IT.
According to Zolotaryov, the creation of IT infrastructure in the region will cost the local budget about $5 million, and another $1 million will be spent on software and training that will be provided by Parus. The district has already borrowed money for the program, using future tax revenues as a collateral, the governor said.
"We expect to begin reaping the benefits from the program around 2003 or 2004, and I hope that we'll be able to return our investment by 2005," Zolotaryov said.
The introduction of an IT-based resource-management system is divided into two stages. During the first stage, which began in February 2002 and will last through late August, finance-management software will be installed and put into service.
The second stage will involve the automation of all purchases in the region.