Dubai: The Dubai Municipality on Tuesday won the best government initiative for 2017 in the ‘Hamdan Bin Mohammad Programme for Smart Government’.
Its winning service was Montaji (My Product), a smart app that allows residents to scan the barcode of products - such as cosmetics, perfumes, supplements, detergents and others - and learn if they are registered and approved by the municipality.
Khalid Sharif Al Awadi, Assistant Director General, Environment, Health and Safety Control, Dubai Municipality, told Gulf News shortly after the win: “The Montaji saves time for registration by importers of the daily use consumer products. For the consumer, he or she can use it to check if the product is registered and safe or not. If it’s not, the app will reveal it and they can alert authorities.”
Montaji was selected from among seven other initiatives at a presentation and awards ceremony held at the events arena at Marsa Al Seef.
Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, presented the award to the winner.
Dubai The Model Center hosted the Hamdan Hub 2017 ‘Pioneering Services’ event.
Shaikh Hamdan had recently called on the community to vote for the best and most innovative government initiative of the year, stressing that customer involvement is a priority to measure the success of the services of government authorities.
This year’s nominees included Dewa’s One Step Initiative; Robotic Process Automation - Smart Refund by Dubai Customs; Montaji by Dubai Municipality; Dubai Health Authority’s Dammi Application; RTA’s Smart Transportation Initiative; Female Responder by Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services; Community Airport Application from Dubai Airports; and Dubai Expert by Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Dubai Tourism.
Ahead of Tuesday’s event, Abdullah Mohammad Al Basti, Secretary-General of the Dubai Executive Council, had said: “The Hamdan Bin Mohammad Programme for Smart Government is rooted in the vision of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in adopting an approach that prioritises customers’ happiness as a benchmark for developing government initiatives and services, harnessing smart and modern technologies and making them available to customers.”
He had added: “The programme allows the public to participate in the process of selecting the best government initiative, gauging their views and building on them to develop government services and achieve new heights in terms of leadership and excellence.”
Finalist initiatives were presented at the Hamdan Hub earlier. The initiative that received the most public votes eventually won the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Programme for Smart Government Flag.
The municipality will keep the flag for one year as a testament to its excellence and dedication to the happiness of the people of Dubai.
On Tuesday, the municipality received the flag from last year’s winner - the RTA. The flag will then be passed to the winner of next year’s edition of the contest.
