By LETRE SWEETING

Tribune Staff Reporter

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

MORE than $1m will be spent to revamp and modernise the government website, according to Wayde Watson, parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

In April, Mr Watson announced that a six-month project to revamp the government website was underway after frustrated users complained about outdated and antiquated features.

The project would involve a partnership between the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Department of Information and Communications Technology, and Netclues Incorporated, which the government contracted.

Yesterday, following the second annual Caribbean Investment Forum 2023 at Atlantis, Mr Watson said a popular website development company has been contracted to facilitate the site’s revamping, which is expected to be completed next year.

He said new features will include a tab to speak with a government representative for assistance.

“Right now, we have already completed the phase where the landing page of the official website has been approved, has been vetted by the agencies of the government, as well as the Department of Information and Communication Technology experts and our web section,” he said.

“Now, what we’re doing is we’re working on the individual ministry websites to make certain that we can flip through those pages, make certain that the data is correct, and make certain that it has the adaptive technology behind it so that it can be rendered whether it is on a tablet, PC, mobile device or computer screen.

“We have about 88 different pages on the website, so we have to look at each one of those pages. So, we expect to be completed sometime early in quarter two or quarter three of 2024.

“I don’t have the exact total at this particular time, but I know it’s somewhere around the region of $1m and something to do the entire website. We have contracted a very popular website company that has its footprint in the region, in The Bahamas and in the Cayman Islands.

“The work that they have done is extremely professional and very immaculate, so we were able to successfully garner that particular company to facilitate what it is that we’re trying to do as we move forward with the digitalisation effort in the country.”

In April, Mr Watson said there were 18,000 registered users on the website.