UAE ministry adopt e-government services
United Arab Emirates, Economics, 5/23/2002

The ministry of Public Works and Housing will soon unveil its first project done electronically, inspired by Dubai e-government's initiatives, while at the same time gradually adopting electronic methods for archiving and housing-related applications.

The Ministry's preparedness for e-Services was revealed during a presentation on e-Services done by Dubai e-Government as part of its ongoing program to familiarize Government offices and public institutions with the finer points of e-Governance. The first phase of automating the Ministry's functioning has already begun and employees are being trained at special sessions and workshops.

Ibrahim Abdul Malik Mohammed, Assistant Deputy Minister, Finance and Administration, Ministry of Housing and Public Works, expressed confidence that the Ministry would adopt e-Services in a phased manner.

"The Ministry's first electronic project that began one and a half years ago will be ready in a week," said Ibrahim. "In this project, which pertains to housing, every stage was done electronically. We have already started training our employees on this project. We have also introduced a system to process data on housing electronically. We also propose to have a link between the Ministry and the Zayed Housing Project."

Ibrahim said a three-phased integration to introduce e-Governance has been proposed, firstly to link all offices within each ministry, then link all the ministries at the Federal level and finally link each ministry with local governments. Ibrahim recommended that all three phases should be done simultaneously.

"The aims and achievements of Dubai e-Government are a matter of pride for the UAE. We can already feel the change in different areas of service," added Ibrahim. "Dubai e-Government now has the expertise that will be used as a model by everyone to introduce e-Services in all sectors."

Ibrahim said the Ministry of Public Works and Housing was constructing a new building that would be fully equipped to render e-Services. The building will be ready by the end of 2003.

Addressing the Ministry's employees, Salem Al Shair, Director e-Services, Dubai e-Government, said the objective of e-Services was to reduce time and paperwork, increase efficiency and provide ease.

"The Dubai e-Government's goal is to provide essential services through electronic means," said Al Shair. "This makes it important for every Government office to be fully prepared and equipped to switch to the new system. This is a big challenge facing us all."

Stressing that e-Services were the need of the hour, Al Shair exhorted the employees to be prepared for e-Governance mentally, culturally, technologically and management-wise. "e-Services will dramatically change the way services are provided today. The public will be able to access these services round-the-clock, all seven days of the week. The task now before you is to have the right equipment, technology and staff to make this possible."

Al Shair stressed the role of each department and ministry to adopt e-strategies across the country with a view to linking services and improving efficiency and speed.

Al Shair said Dubai e-Government had been short-listed by the Federal Government to provide consultancy service for a nationwide adoption of e-Governance, in appreciation of the pioneering role it has played.

The presentation for the employees of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing was one of the many programmes that are being conducted by Dubai e-Government to educate government bodies as well as different segments of the society to familiarize them with the concept of e-Services.

Dubai e-Government is a pioneering initiative in the region to provide online services across the spectrum of corporate and community life in the emirate. It also has a vision to integrate individually automated government departments under the single umbrella of the e-government initiative, thus empowering employees across lines of businesses and levels of government, besides facilitating the lives of citizens and customers of the government. Dubai has taken a lead in the region in deploying e-government applications and is among the first few governments in the world to provide such integrated services to its citizens.

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