A new website that will bring all Government departments under one banner and will eventually allow the public to pay taxes and licences online will cost between $1.1 million and $1.3 million to set up.

The e-Portal initiative will, when completed, allow the public to look up public information and eventually to do things like pay land taxes, licence vehicles through TCD or boats online.

?The e-Government Portal is not just one of this Government?s boldest initiatives, but is also necessary for a dynamic and sophisticated jurisdiction,? said Renee Webb, Minister of Tourism, Telecommunications and E-commerce. ?As other governments and large organisations around the world move to modernise and connect their online capabilities to become more efficient and productive in delivering their services, we too are realising that we need to adopt this approach.?

Ms Webb yesterday launched the initiative and said that it had been in the planning and development stages for nearly two years.

?At last count the Bermuda Government was surveyed as having close to 50 websites ? the majority of which are informational sites,? said Ms Webb.

And she said that the sites represent a vast cross-section of the Government and its associated entities, but there was no central point of co-ordination.

She said: ?The result is a variety of Government sites with little consistency, in intent, content, look and feel or navigation. Additionally, in many cases, the public and or the business community do not know that many of these sites exist or if they do, where to find them.?

And Ms Webb said that the Government was now working towards unifying its online structure and the implementation of the portal was the way to make it happen.

?The e-Government portal is not just about citizen and business access to information, it is about developing knowledge and having access to programmes, policies and services which promote collaboration and understanding in Government and its overall function within the community,? she said.

?It is more than just a website with a page of information... the e-Government Portal promises to be an interactive tool to provide the public and business with convenient access to Government services, facilitate the administration of internal process and eventually allow for real-time transactions at the touch of a button or the click of a mouse.?

Nigel Hickson, the Government?s E-commerce advisor, said that the project was being developed in two phases. The first phase, which was purely the information stage, ie putting the information onto the website, would cost between $600,000 and $700,000. The second phase was going to be more interactive and would cost between $500,000 and $600,000.

The portal vendor is Sbi, a local information technology company, who are working with the US portal vendor, Plumtree.

Ms Webb also said that she did not expect any redundancies would be made due to efficiencies in Government brought about once the portal was up and running.

She said that the system set up to pay payroll tax online had not resulted in any job reductions in that department as people were needed to man the system.