e-Government Infrastructure Phase II

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or Banque Africaine de Développement (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution. The AfDB was founded in 1964 and comprises three entities: The African Development Bank, the African Development Fund and the Nigeria Trust Fund. The AfDB’s mission is to fight poverty and improve living conditions on the continent through promoting the investment of public and private capital in projects and programs that are likely to contribute to the economic and social development of the region. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies investing in the regional member countries (RMC).

General Procurement Notice

The Kingdom of Lesotho has received a loan from the African Development Fund to finance the eGovernment Infrastructure Phase II Project.

The principal objective of this project is to :

To drive digital finance and financial inclusion by improving access to reliable digital Services particularly among citizens living in rural and unserved areas through:

a)  Increase data enabled coverage in rural and unserved areas.
b)  Expansion of digital infrastructure and services

The project includes the following components:

Component 1: Extension of Rural Broadband Connectivity

The activities under this component will include: (a) support the construction of 48 mobile sites with the support of USF (25%) and ADF (75%) to achieve 99.6% population coverage improving 4G coverage in rural and unserved areas of Lesotho; and (b) and support the completion of a 96km OPGW fibre network from Roma (Maseru) to Thaba-Tseka thus improving the quality of service experienced by end users in Thaba-Tseka when using mobile data services.

Component 2: Enhancement of the Lesotho Government Digital Service

The second component of the project aims to provide the required support for the promotion of a digital economy in Lesotho. It will focus on building the required digital payments infrastructure, improving access to legislation process and enacted laws, and provide facilities to rural communities to access e-government and digital financial services. The component will have three sub-components namely: (a) establishment of common digital Centers at Lesotho Post Office locations spread out in the rural areas; (b) strengthening of National Payment infrastructure; and (c) implementation of an e- Parliament System for the Lesotho Parliament.