E-Govt Initiative Set to Beat 2010 Deadline: Muqrin
Prince Muqrin, fourth from left, takes a round of the IT and electronic exhibition organized on the sidelines of the National e-Transactions Conference in Riyadh on Monday. (AN photo by Abdullah Ateeq)
Prince Muqrin, chief of General Intelligence, said yesterday that the Kingdom, as part of its SR3 billion e-government initiative, would lay down a full-fledged foundation for the system well before the target year of 2010.
The initiative, dubbed Yesser (Arabic for “Simplify”), aims to make Saudi society more digitally literate and to streamline government bureaucracy.
He expressed optimism that the Kingdom’s e-government project will be “fully functional in 2010 or well before the stipulated timeframe.”
The prince made his remarks on the first day of the National e-Transactions Conference 2007, which was inaugurated Sunday evening at the InterContinental and has brought together keynote speakers from the Kingdom and abroad to discuss how technology can simplify procedures, from visa renewals to obtaining copies of deeds.
“There will be no need for a Saudi citizen or an expatriate to visit a government office from a 1,500-km far-flung area to expedite one or many government-related works,” said Prince Muqrin.
Attending on behalf of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, Minister of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) Muhammad Jameel Mulla kicked off the conference late Sunday by saying that 150 electronic government services would be up and ready for public usage by 2010.
Also attending the inauguration was Communications and Information Technology Commission Gov. Mohammed Al-Suwaiyel, Minister of Finance Ibrahim Al-Assaf, members of the Shoura Council, diplomats and officials. Malaysian Minister of Science Jamaluddin Jarjis was also present.
Referring to the need for immediate implementation of the e-governance system, Prince Muqrin said that e-government concept would enable transactions and services to be performed electronically, thus eliminating many barriers and obstacles.
Prince Muqrin noted that the digitalization of Saudi government agencies “will be largely based on how people accept or respond to the new system.”
He called on the Education Ministry to generate awareness among students about the e-system.
Speaking on his part, Al-Suwaiyel said: “The main aim of the government is to take full advantage of information and communication technologies to make the country a digital society.”
Al-Suwaiyel said the new initiative would assist students in enrolling in college. “All universities will apply an electronic system for accepting graduates,” he said. “Our sons and daughters will no longer have to queue in lines at the gates of universities to apply.”
The minister launched the e-government electronic service system, the e-government transactions network, consultancy center for information security, and the national gateway for electronic transactions. “King Abdullah has been encouraging the setup of this conference from the very beginning,” said Mulla, speaking to reporters after the event. “People attending the workshops are experts from inside and outside the Kingdom. We will exchange experiences.”
The minister said the Kingdom aimed at an easy access for government services to citizens and residents from their households.
He added that according to official statistics, 74 percent of households in the Kingdom had a computer. “This is a sign that the usage of electronic government services from households can be a promising thing,” he noted.
Mulla said that the Kingdom has taken the necessary precautions for security theft as well as hackers who could be a threat to the system. “Security theft as well as protection of the system from illegal entry or destruction is a vital matter that will be taken into consideration when the system is built,” he said. “Steps will be taken to protect illegal entry to the main frame that stores data.”
The electronic portal will also be able to identify accurate signatures in financial transactions and make sure that the applicant provides the necessary data before sending out any transaction from the government side, he added.
“Prices will be much lower than what it is now in 2010, especially when the infrastructure is complete,” said Mulla.
He noted that 50 percent of the Kingdom’s population, which is under 30, use computers on a daily basis, “would find their ambitions fulfilled.”
Al-Assaf said the e-transactions initiative was launched in 2005 and is jointly implemented by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Communications and Information Technology Commission.
He said that this four-day cutting-edge event would provide an ideal platform to debate cohesive and practical strategies for the expansion of e-governance for the common good. The conference will also address a range of challenging issues faced by government agencies.
Strategy related topics would embrace e-participation, e-government, IT governance, risk and compliance management, business process management and resources capacity planning.
Al-Assaf said that his ministry had the responsibility of collecting financial dues from government bodies in electronic transactions in the e-government system.
“We are now working on a very important aspect which is the implementation of government purchasing electronically,” he told reporters. “Applications will be sent by government departments electronically and then processed electronically,” he said, adding that his ministry would soon implement this.
Another important mission for the Ministry of Finance is to collect dues from the various departments such as labor offices, passport departments, municipalities and others. “All of this will be done electronically and it will ease things on citizens and residents,” he noted.
Responding to a question from Arab News on the possibility of using credit cards for paying for electronic government services, he said: “This will be widely used in the future”.
Al-Assaf said his ministry is proud to be the first to introduce electronic transactions by preparing the annual budget electronically for over 30 years now.
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