ICT Minister stresses entrusting data-driven projects to private sector

He made the statement in a meeting on Wednesday to review implementation of the Geocoded National Address File (GNAF) project.

Hashemi also stressed the development of the project's applications, the provision of funding, the use of urban management capacities and the avoidance of duplication of efforts, and the attraction of private sector participation to realize data-driven governance.

"We hope that, from now on, the meetings will be held regularly so that we can make greater operational use of the valuable capacities created through the efforts of the country's experts in advancing the National GNAF Project,” the ICT Minister said referring to the wartime conditions which delayed the meetings.

Referring to the report presented on the progress of completing the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, he added, "In the field of geocoding, considerable progress has been achieved, particularly with a focus on rural areas.”

“Although we are still short of the desired level, achieving 66 per cent coverage in villages and 86 per cent coverage in cities represents an important step towards completing the country's spatial databases."

Referring to statistics on the use of national GNAF-based services by executive bodies and businesses, the ICT Minister stated, "The registration of 327 million inquiries by executive bodies and 56 million inquiries by businesses indicates a growing trend in the use of these services.”

“However, comparative benchmarks and performance indicators should also be presented accurately so that the level of progress can be properly assessed."

Emphasizing that the expansion of GNAF applications must be pursued more seriously, Hashemi added, "The growth in the use of these services is encouraging, but there is still substantial capacity for executive bodies to make greater use of this infrastructure, and more effort should be devoted to this area."

Isfahan, Role Model in GNAF Implementation

Hashemi referred to the implementation of the pilot smart plate project in Isfahan Province and said, "The leadership demonstrated by Isfahan Province can serve as a role model for other provinces and metropolitan areas across the country."

"The role of urban management and municipalities in advancing GNAF is highly decisive, and expanding this cooperation can accelerate the implementation of the project."

Funding Requires National Support

Referring to the project's financial constraints, Hashemi described the provision of funding as one of the principal challenges facing GNAF implementation.

"Given the President's commitment to implementing this project, and despite budgetary constraints—particularly following the country's recent circumstances—it is necessary to pursue this issue from a national perspective by pooling available capacities."

Postal Code Basis of Data-Driven Governance

In another part of his remarks, Hashemi referred to proposals concerning the creation of new identifiers for property information.

"The specialized information of each organization can be added to spatial data as supplementary layers, but replacing these identifiers with the postal code could lead to divergence in the country's data governance system."

He stated, "The postal code must continue to serve as the location-based foundation, while other specialized information from government bodies should be developed on this platform, just as specialized identifiers are used alongside primary identifiers in the banking, taxation and business sectors."

The ICT Minister also stressed establishing a single national base map, saying "It is unacceptable for different organizations to spend separate budgets producing different base maps that ultimately are not compatible with one another."

Referring to measures initiated by the Government of President Masoud Pezeshkian to facilitate the sharing of spatial data among government bodies, he added, "There should be a single authority responsible for preparing and maintaining the national base map, while all other organizations should obtain services from that same authority."

Private Sector Driving Force of Infra Projects

Emphasizing the use of private sector capacity in implementing the national base map, Hashemi noted, "We believe the government's role should be that of a regulator and supervisor, while project implementation should, as far as possible, be entrusted to the private sector."

“Even in the field of systems security, the Seventh National Development Plan emphasizes the use of private sector capacity. Therefore, in data-driven projects as well, the conditions should be created for the private sector to play an active role."

At the conclusion of the meeting, the ICT Minister instructed the Managing Director of the National Post Company to prepare a report on the measures taken, together with a request to hold a meeting with the President.