37 Percent Face Offline E-Gov Bottlenecks
• 37 percent of applicants face offline queues despite digital submissions
• Local government e-governance readiness index stands at 38.9 out of 100
• CPD advocates for 'One Digital Member per Household' initiative
Despite claims of expanding digital public services, citizens continue to navigate a redundant hybrid process combining online applications with physical bureau visits. Research reveals that nearly 37 percent of women and youth must physically submit paper documents and queue at government offices after completing online forms. The findings were presented by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) on Monday (August 31, 2026) during a dialogue titled 'E-Governance at the Local Government Institutions: Current State and Way Forward' at Lakeshore Hotel in Dhaka.
Supported by USAID, Switzerland, Canada, and the European Union, the technical study surveyed 2,611 citizens alongside 297 union and upazila level offices. The data indicates that end-to-end digital service delivery remains severely restricted, with only 1.8 percent of women and 2.9 percent of youth successfully obtaining services fully online. Furthermore, nearly one-third of applicants are forced back into offline channels solely to complete fee payments or physical signatures.
The CPD report identified severe technical infrastructure deficits and low digital literacy as major operational bottlenecks. Local government offices scored just 38.9 out of 100 on the overall e-governance readiness index due to hardware breakdowns, lack of power backups, and weak server connectivity. Nearly half of the surveyed citizens lack basic computing skills, while female users expressed significant concerns regarding personal data security and privacy breaches. Geographically, Mymensingh and Rajshahi recorded better digital readiness, whereas Rangpur ranked lowest.
Chaired by CPD Executive Director Dr. Fahmida Khatun, the event featured Dr. Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Financial and Planning Affairs, as the chief guest. Panelists including iSocial Chairman Dr. Ananya Raihan and a2i Senior Consultant Fazlul Jahed Pavel emphasized strengthening fiber optic infrastructure and cloud-based service architecture. To resolve these challenges, CPD recommended initiating a 'One Digital Member per Household' training program, modernizing local hardware infrastructure, and establishing end-to-end encrypted e-governance portals alongside digital grievance tracking systems.
//DBTech/NAP/SME/MIS//
