Government outs Sung-jeon App from 12th FYP

With overwhelming priorities in the 12^th Five-Year-Plan, the government is not in a position to implement one of its election pledges, the Sung-jeon App.

Pointing reasons to pledge Sung-jeon App, the Layog Lyonpo Karma Dorji told the parliament that the Sung-jeon App was to benefit the whole country. Some of the reasons, Lyonpo said, it is for data security, and information security.

“Sung-jeon App is for country’s security,” Lyonpo said. Adding to it, Lyonpo said internet outage outside would also impact the internet services in the country, and Sung-jeon App was planned to offset such issues.

Additionally, Lyonpo said that the pledge of ‘Free Wi-Fi’ was also surrounding the fear that people may not use the Sung-jeon App if it was not provided for free, consequently, the party included the pledge to offer ‘Free Wi-Fi’. So, it was decided to offer Sung-jeon App services for free through ‘Free Wi-Fi’ pledge.

According to the Layog Lyonpo, the App was planned as a social media application similar to WeChat and WhatsApp, and it was aimed to enable Bhutanese to communicate freely without having to use cellular vouchers to use the service.

Layog Lyonpo said that the government has overwhelming priorities for the 12^th FYP, it includes development in agriculture, roads,

However, many people pointed that such a project is only to create a hype in the elections. They said that it would take years to implement such a huge project, and it would also impact the revenue of the telecommunications sector drastically.

Many sections of the Bhutanese people also urge the government to better the telecommunications services, and bring down the service charges for internet services, and also improve the sector.

However, Lyonpo said that overwhelming need to prioritize other development activities in the 12th FYP, and it is not possible to develop and implement the Sung-jeon App.

Considering its importance, Lyonpo said that other governments should consider prioritizing implementing the Sung-jeon App in the 13^th Five-Year-Plan.

To set up Sung-jeon App and Free Wi-Fi, it was government’s pledge to fulfil within 120 days.

Earlier, the government was working on tenders for information system, and technological infrastructure, however, tech firms including Bhutan Telecom Limited and Tashi InfoComm Limited.