As civil works constitutes a significant part of the cost of laying fiber, inclusion of ducts in the design of new construction, such as road or power projects, represents an almost trivial additional cost. Collaborative efforts between the relevant ministries will ensure that all future public construction work includes the cost of a telecom or general utility duct. In addition local planning approvals procedures need to be amended to integrate dig once principles to ensure other utility infrastructure and all public buildings include the necessary ducts within the building to facilitate broadband access. 6.2.6 TOWER SHARING AND CO-LOCATION Where technically feasible, carriers will be encouraged to co-locate towers and other facilities. This will ensure that wireless communications and broadcasting towers are not arbitrarily constructed and scarce resources are maximised while environmental impact and operational costs are reduced. Access to towers and related infrastructure (power, security) should therefore be made available for sharing at reasonable tariffs. Guidelines need to be formulated in conjunction with relevant Ministries, NCA, local governments and operators/ owners of technology towers and buildings. Guidelines would also specify tower heights, proximity to sensitive structures (e.g. schools, hospitals), co-location, and decommissioning. 6.2.7 SECURITY AND RELIABILITY OF CRITICAL ICT INFRASTRUCTURE Standards for laying ducts and fiber cables should be be developed to ensure integrity and reliability of the infrastructure. This needs to be augmented with appropriate legal protections against theft and vandalism. The reliable operation of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) is also necessary as these are part of the critical infrastructure because they ensure that local traffic stays local, and that alternative routes are always available. 6.2.8 GOVERNMENT DATA CENTER A government data center will be set to consolidate services, applications and infrastructure to provide efficient electronic delivery of Government to Government (G2G), Government to Citizens (G2C) and Government to Business (G2B) services delivered by the various government agencies through a common platform supported by core connectivity infrastructure and the government information management strategy. In this respect the data center would need to meet a variety of needs, including the provision of a central repository of national data, secure data storage, online delivery of services, citizen service portal, government agency web hosting, a government intranet and a disaster recovery platform using an off-site backup location. 26