Digital Economy Enhancement Project (DEEP)

Introduction

The Digital Economy Enhancement Project (DEEP) - a flagship initiative of the Ministry of IT & Telecommunication with the support of World Bank is designed to accelerate the country’s transition toward a modern, inclusive, and innovation-driven digital economy. Under the vision of Digital Nation Pakistan, DEEP will enable and strengthen Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for the country, paving the way for the implementation of whole-of-government approach. The project will improve service delivery, regulatory efficiency, and citizen engagement enabling data-driven governance and unlocking the potential of public sector through government-led interoperable Digital Identity, Digital Payments and Data Exchange.

Vision

Strengthening Pakistan’s Digital Future through Efficiency, Transparency, and Inclusion.

Project Objective

DEEP is designed to enhance the Government’s capacity for digitally enabled public service delivery for citizens and businesses.

Project Components

The project is structured across the following core components:

Component 1: Foundational Digital Infrastructure (USD 58 Million)

1a. Policy and regulatory reforms (MOITT): will design policy, governance and regulatory reforms for enablement of the DPI components; and development of key enablers for the whole-of-government approach.

1b. National Data Exchange Layer (NADRA): Providing technology infrastructure, institutional capacity building, digital authentication and operational sustainability for open and trusted data sharing across Government entities.

1c. Digital ID (NADRA): will be designed as a unified ID for the citizens to provide them with increased control over their personal data and records in the digital space.  

1d. National Citizen Services Portal (NITB): will support E2E digitalization of G2P services, with the objective to address the current fragmentation and duplication of public services delivery across country; and to build high-quality digital services and knowledge sharing among provinces.

1e. Civic Innovation (Ignite-NTF): will build the National Open Data Ecosystem, Civic Innovation and Technology Labs, Hackathons to solve the Government challenges for citizens centric services and nationwide Digital Literacy to create tech-savvy citizens and comfortable adoption of technology by Government.

 

Component 2: Digital Business and Regulatory Modernization (BOI) (USD 15 Million)

  • Modernization of regulatory regimes: will establish a catalogue of federal and provincial business RLCOs for simplifying, streamlining, and improving existing regulatory requirements for investing and operating business.
  • Pakistan Business Portal: will act as an interface to host all digitalized and available RLCOs and be the centralised portal for all trade and business-related services.

Component 3: Project Management (USD 5 Million)

  • Program management, coordination, monitoring, and implementation support

Project Outcomes

Upon completion, DEEP will deliver:

•       Improved citizen and business service delivery

•       Enable trusted, interoperable government systems

•       Enable secure and efficient data sharing across government (G2G, G2P, G2B)

•       Institutionalize data-driven decision-making

•       Support digital economic growth and innovation

•       Simplify and digitize regulatory processes to improve ease of doing business

•       Digitalization of RLCOs to facilitate businesses

•       Strengthen sovereign digital capabilities

•       Promote citizen-centric innovation through civic engagement

  •  Build secure, transparent, and accountable digital systems for citizens and businesses 
  •              Develop interoperable systems for digital identity, payments, and data exchange.
  • Inclusive Digital Ecosystem through greater participation of women, SMEs, and underserved communities.