PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Saturday announced that a “digital public services catalogue” would be developed to facilitate service delivery to people.

The DPSC will serve as a centralised repository of all public services offered by the provincial departments, according to an official statement from the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.

“The initiative aims to significantly ease citizens’ access to various government services, enabling them to avail the services online from their homes,” the statement read.

It added that the digital catalogue included 106 public services from 26 departments, while the government decided to incorporate all remaining services into the digital platform as well.

The Chief Minister’s Secretariat, in a letter, directed all departments to produce the relevant data for the inclusion of their services in the digital catalogue.

It noted that the initiative was not just a bureaucratic requirement but a “direct enabler of public ease and welfare” and that it would help improve service delivery.

The Chief Minister’s Secretariat said that such efforts were made in the past, too, but they failed due to a lack of ownership.

It noted that the success depended on complete departmental participation as only fully digitised and integrated services would enable citizens to experience a seamless and efficient public service delivery system.

“Currently, only 29.55 per cent of public services are digitised. Under the chief minister’s good governance policy, there is a pressing need for digitising the rest to enhance public convenience.”

The CM Secretariat directed all departments to share their data for inclusion in the digital DPSC, noting that without digitisation, the provision of public services remains complex, often leading to delays, inefficiencies and difficulties for citizens.

It added that digital catalogue was positioned as a direct tool for ensuring public welfare and convenience while improving service delivery and departmental performance.

“In the next phase, this catalogue will be integrated with the Dastak Platform, further expanding its reach and efficiency,” it said in the letter.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2025