Sharjah Municipality to go online by end of this year

Sharjah Municipality will provide its services to the public through the Internet before the end of this year as part of the E-Government Project launched by the local government.

Ahmed Mohammed Fikri, the municipality's Director General, said all IT systems had already been developed, an electronic archiving system introduced, an integrated geographical database set up, and the web site of the municipality launched last year, as part of the preparation for the implementation of the project later this year.

"Sharjah Municipality has gone far towards utilising IT to develop its public services and develop comprehensive advancement", said Fikri.

He said more steps would be made by the municipality this year to expand its IT projects to include new services, including administration, archiving, finance, public health, drainage, rent contract attestation, technical affairs, statistics and decision-making.

Ali Al Rashid, head of the civic body's IT Department, said the municipality would install systems to enable the public to use the public services provided by the municipality through the Internet.

"We will first start dealing with the financial systems related to importers, rent agreements, the technical affairs that issues a licence and handles transactions as part of the second phase of our Internet project," said Al Rashid, adding that the web site had been designed and launched in the first phase.

The web site in English will be updated to enable the public to use it to get their transactions done through the Internet, he added.

"The site will also be used by the staff to exchange data and news pertaining to the activities and projects conducted by the municipality. The e-mail system will be fully utilised to promote communication between the various sections of the municipality," said Al Rashid.

"We will be able to complete the circle of installing the IT systems at all the sections of the municipality before the end of this year, including the finance, administration, stores and purchase sections," said Al Rashid.