Govt. allocates US$4mn tech investments to municipalities

Chile's government will spend US$4mn-5mn over the next few years to increase technology and e-government services at the 342 municipal governments, Claudio Orrego, vice president of local technology companies association ACTI and former government minister, told BNamericas. The project is part of a US$15mn loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Orrego said. The government wants to expand back office systems such as enterprise resource management (ERP) and payroll platforms, Orrego said, as well as extend e-government services such as managing local public works contracts and subsidies, he said. Earlier this year, a survey by the ministry's regional development agency revealed that only 90 municipalities had ERP systems, and only 61 had electronic payroll systems in place. The survey also found that only 5% of municipal governments have web sites that offer information and services, he added. To determine specifically how and where to allocate the investments, the regional development agency will launch tenders for studies to analyze the current state of technology among local governments, he said. Other objectives of the IDB loan are to integrate IT systems among different government agencies and to improve e-health services among public health institutions in Chile.