State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said the government has adopted a plan to convert local post offices into smart service points in the journey to build Smart Bangladesh.
As a result, post offices will provide more than 325 e-government services as well as regular postal services, he said.
In this continuation, even from remote villages, people can easily receive all e-government services including banking, agent banking services from those smart post service points, he added.
Along with economic inclusion, it will play an incredible role in eliminating the digital divide in the country.
The state minister said these things while talking to reporters after inaugurating “SmartPost Centre Koira” at Koyra in Khulna on Tuesday. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, UNDP Goodwill Ambassador, inaugurated this Smart Service Point of Post Office in Koyra, Khulna.
Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Director General of Postal department Tarun Kanti Sikdar, and Policy Adviser of A2I, Anir Chowdhury were present at the event.
Palak said "Initially, we have started the work of converting 5 post offices into smart post centres on an experimental basis. SmartPost Centre, Koira is the first journey of this initiative. We will soon implement 500 more SmartPost Centres in continuation of this."
He also emphasised on the need to create a digital inclusive society and said that our goal is to deliver services to the doorsteps of every person in the country, including remote areas, using the vast network of post offices, huge infrastructure and manpower.
"We have started the journey to reach another dream destination of building Smart Bangladesh by 2041. With the smart postal system, it will be possible to deliver goods through various hubs centred on 10,000 post offices in the country," he said.
The state minister said the Smart Service Point (SSP) initiative is a concerted effort to integrate digital solutions with traditional postal services.
He expressed strong optimism that these service points will revolutionise accessibility and efficiency in rural areas of Bangladesh by hosting facilities like parcel tracking, bill payment and e-commerce facilities.
