NADRA to acquire 126,000 digital tablets from China for census

Islamabad: Pakistan’s National Database Regulatory Authority (NADRA) has decided to purchase 126,000 digital tablets from China for the upcoming 7th Population and Household Digital Census by December 11, 2022.

The delivery of tablets started today (August 20) and will be completed in eight batches by December 11, 2022, NADRA said.

Of the 126,000 tablets to be procured from China, the first batch of 500 tablets has arrived, followed by three batches of 18,500 each in October, and two batches of 18,500 each in November, according to the contract. Two batches of 18,500 and 14,500 will arrive in Pakistan on December 1 and December 15.

To carry out pilot digital census and training in 83 sub-districts, NADRA has already arranged 600 tablets from Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) through a loan.

NADRA had earlier proposed a comprehensive Information Technology Turn-Key Solution for the 7th Population and Household Census.

The digital census will be carried out across the country in 628 sub-districts comprising approximately 200,000 Census Blocks.

The activity shall be performed using android-based smart devices equipped with House Listing and Enumeration Application synchronized with Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS).

An agreement between NADRA and the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) was signed on June 20, 2022 to offer an IT turn Key solution for the upcoming 7th Digital Census in the country by NADRA.

The total cost of the contract is amounting to Pakistani Rs 13.4 billion. The Mobilization Advance of 40 percent payment invoice as per the contract has been raised by the PBS however, Rs 2.25 billion has been allocated by NADRA.