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Dubai to re-evaluate e-government services next year, says official

Dubai to re-evaluate e-government services next year, says official
By Ashfaq Ahmed, Staff Reporter
Dubai: A re-evaluation of e-government services offered by various departments in Dubai is likely as people have not responded to them positively, said a senior government official.
"Although we have succeeded in attracting companies to use online services the response is not as good as expected especially from individuals who still fear using online services," said Salem Khamis Al Shair, Services Director at Dubai eGovernment.
Al Shair said Dubai was aiming to have a virtual government system with no barriers or red tape, but the poor response from users was hampering the initiative.
"We are going to re-evaluate all services offered online beginning next year to check the standard and quality of the services and to study what is stopping people from using them," he said.
General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and UAE Defence Minister said that about 90 per cent of government services should be online by 2007 and about 50 per cent of transactions should be carried out online, Dubai eGovernment is on target to reach this aim.
"Currently, we have managed to offer 81 per cent of services online but the number of people using them is not as high as it should be," said Al Shair.
He said the number of internet users in the country had grown 88.4 per cent over the last five years. The number has increased from 735,000 in 2000 to 1.39 million this year. It means that about 37 per cent of the UAE population is online.
He said the government was working in synergy between the public and private sectors.
"Public-private partnerships are set to play a greater role in future e-government initiatives," he said.
Mohammad Abdul Karim Julfar, Assistant Director-General of Dubai Municipality said the municipality was the leading government department in terms of online transactions.
The civic body offers 190 of its services online. But he acknowledged that most of the online services were used by companies rather than individuals. The municipality will introduce 27 online services beginning next year and 70 more services in June.
"We want to make our customers' lives easy and don't want them to have unnecessary trips to the municipality," Julfar said.
Global Digital City Network meeting opens today
The Sixth Conference of the Global Digital City Network (GDCN) opens in Dubai today. Delegates from 10 GDCN member cities are in Dubai to attend the conference being organised by Dubai Municipality in coordination with Dubai eGovernment and Etisalat.
The GDCN is an international intercity organisation designed to promote competitiveness of membership organisations by leveraging synergies through the exchange of information and technologies.
The conference aims to provide member cities with opportunities to establish ties, raise awareness and exchange information on a variety of topics including interactive entertainment, biotechnology and information technology in general.
Ganem Al Merri, Deputy General Manager of Etisalat for Dubai said: "We are confident that the content of the conference will prove to be an enriching experience in order to help member cities, and Dubai in particular, to meet challenges of an increasingly competitive nature and bridge the digital divide in our respective communities."

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