The Bermuda Government is to go online and become interactive, according to E-commerce and Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb.

In moves that are currently being worked on by Ms Webb, a Bermuda `e-Government' could be up and running by the end of the year.

She says an electronic government will allow members of the public greater access to government departments and information and will eventually allow time consuming documentation to be done on the Web.

The interactive site will benefit the general public in ways that will help avoid lengthy queues for government departments.

And eventually the minister hopes to have a Bermudian version of Hansard-records of what is said in the House of Assembly -- on their own special web site.

Once the system is fully operational, members of the public will be able to log on and access information from each Government department though a single website.

And car and bike owners will be among the first to be able to skip queues and renew their licences online, as the Transport Control Department goes electronic. This part of the process could be online by the end of 2000.

And the Government is to make sure everyone has access to the information and services by setting up `kiosks' of computers in public libraries and post offices.

"One of the advantages about the Internet is the public can have direct access to information,'' said Ms Webb.

"One of the mandates of Government as far as e-commerce goes is to make it as accessible to the public as possible.

"The public will be able to log on to a Government website, and may access information on say, immigration policies, licences, cellphone licences or just find out about the government.'' The kiosks will allow members of the public who do not have access to computers at work and cannot afford to buy one, to have the same access to information as those that are more wealthy.

At the moment several of the government departments -- 17 in total -- have web pages, but they are separate from each other and are not inter linked or all accessible through a single site.

Currently the Government does not have the resources to create these pages and most have been outsourced to private companies or done by Bermuda College.

"We hope that eventually we will be able to create sites and do all this in house.'' She added: "We are currently looking at putting parliamentary debates onto CDs which, in CD-rom form can be put online.'' At the moment the only record of parliamentary debates are tapes which are stored in the ministers' office.

BUSINESS BUC