Beijing wants to plug its government departments and various institutes into 200 computer networks, it was revealed at the weekend with the announcement of a series of government tenders.
Beijing Vice-Mayor Fan Boyuan said on Saturday the networking projects, involving 14,000 computers, will start by the end of the year.
According to the municipal government plan, 130 of the projects and about 5,000 of the computers have been earmarked for e-government and education.
"Such projects should depend on fiscal investment, and fair and transparent government purchasing will offer great opportunities for CPU (central processing unit) designers, software developers, computer manufacturers and solution providers," a spokesman from the Beijing municipal government's purchasing office said.
Insiders believe the competitiveness of domestic high-tech enterprises will hold them in good stead during the tender process as their network design skills are more suited to local conditions. Their price tags will be relatively lower than foreign counterparts.
However, foreigners boast an advantage in experience.
The government spokesman said the purchasing for 130 projects should be completed by the end of the year.
Another 50 projects will be installed in some financial, medical, commercial and manufacturing institutes, which enjoy preferential prices for networking facilities, as the government has set up a fund to support the spread of computer networks in the city.
"We plan to conduct 20 network computer projects in the city's west," Fan said.
"We are waiting for approval from the central government."
Experts pointed out the use of computer networks will reduce operational costs for departments and institutes.
(China Daily April 14, 2003)
