Dubai: The UAE’s mGovernment initiative is on course to be ready by the May 2015 deadline as 68 per cent progress has already been achieved, the Telecom Regulatory Authority has announced.
A government app store, an innovation laboratory, a federal electronic network and a centralised management forum are among a series of projects being undertaken to implement the mGovernment initiative in the UAE.
Launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the mGov initiative is set to transform the way government departments operate in the UAE, while also revolutionising transactions across the board.
Once fully implemented, the mGovernment system will provide a unified platform for mobile users to access different government services as well as process various transactions through a single log in.
According to Hamad Obaid Al Mansouri, Director-General of mGov, seven of 20 major mGov projects are fully completed, while nine projects are at the halfway stage.
“We are on track and confident everything will be ready by the deadline. We have achieved 86 per cent targets of our roadmap, almost all our projects except four are almost complete,” said Al Mansouri, speaking to Gulf News.
The Federal Network, the main pillar of the mGov initiative, is halfway through and will be ready by February, he noted.
Among the more interesting initiatives the TRA is working on is the Cave Project, which will allow people to go ahead in time and see how Dubai will look lile in 2020.
“We are setting up this Cave at our head office in Al Mamzar and this will benefit various government departments as well as education and health sectors to get an idea about the direction they need to take in terms of progress and application of technology,” said Al Mansouri.
More than 800 services are already available through 110 government apps and the initiative is expected to offer at least 2,000 services through mobiles by May 2015.
In a related development, Dubai Smart Government’s mPay app collected Dh105 million over the first nine months of this year, which is a spectacular increase of 600 per cent compared with the same period last year and demonstrates the rise of mobile app payments in the region. The mPay app showed 215,975 transactions in the first nine months of this year, as compared with 50,985 transactions amounting to Dh15 million for the same period in 2013.
mPay works as a payment channel for Dubai Police’s traffic fines, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority bills, recharging RTA’s Salik and Nol, fees for Dubai Municipality and Dubai Customs, settling etisalat and du bills, or donating for Al Jalila Foundation and Dubai Cares.
To make use of these services provided by the mPay app, customers must register first with their credit card details in mPay.
