eGovernment wants more people to use eServices

eGovernment wants more people to use eServices

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2 MIN READ

Dubai: The way Salem Al Shair sees it, you have two options when it comes to government services - You can stand in line or you can go online.

"For the average person going online saves time and effort and for the business person, time in money," said Al Shair, a member of the Dubai eGovernment executive team and the director of eServices.

"It's for people who would be more interested in doing something other than wasting their time waiting in que."

But the real test for the eGovernment isn't whether it saves time, but whether people will use it.

"One of the criteria to gage the trust of the public is the amount of financial transactions that they conduct online," said Al Shair.

In 2005, Dubai eGovernment processed 36,000 transactions with a value of Dh14 million. So far this year, there have been almost 66,000 transactions with a value of Dh45 million. The total value of transaction is expected to reach Dh60 million by the end of the year.

There are currently 24 government organisations under the Dubai eGovernment umbrella at this year's Gitex Yousif Shams, head of the system development and support sections for Dubai Municipality's IT section, said 466 eServices are currently available online.

Shams said that not only the business and the general public are benefiting from Dubai eGovernment. The system is also helping government departments better do their jobs.

An example, Shams said, is that health inspectors have been able to track health violations of at local restaurants. Prior violations can now be tracked when it comes time to renew a restaurant's business license.

"The public is very much interested in technology. Mobile phone penetration is second only to Singapore. We have extremely high penetration in computers in the UAE. We have all the prerequisites to get involved."

"We want to reach a situation here an individual can go online and know what services each department offers, and a person will be able to reach those services 24/7."

Al Shair said that Dubai eGov is currently working with the TRA to provide easier access to broadband internet access, including the possibility of having broadband classified as a utility.

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