eServices reduced govt cost by ‘88pc; processing time by 75pc’

TDT | Manama 

The Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA) has unveiled major achievements in implementing its 2019 eGovernment Strategy, most notably the reengineering of 40 eServices, which allowed for an 88 per cent reduction in the costs of providing the government services, and a 74 per cent reduction in processing times. Across all channels, iGA eServices generated BD156 million through more than 1.6m transactions during the year. iGA Chief Executive Mohammed Ali AlQaed announced the results at a press conference yesterday detailing the achievements of the 2019 eGovernment Strategy.

Mr AlQaed said that iGA initiated more than 400 active eServices since the launch of the eGovernment programme, adding that these achievements reflect iGA’s commitment to the directives of the Kingdom’s senior leadership aimed at achieving the objectives of Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030. They also implement the decisions of the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology (SCICT), chaired by Deputy Prime Minister, HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, and the directives of the Minister of Interior, Gen Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa. The achievements also reflect iGA’s commitment to its strategy of digital transformation. Mr AlQaed noted that the objectives of the strategy have been met in a range of 12 government sectors, including transportation, traffic, water and electricity, housing and real estate, education, health, employment, banking, etc. Mr AlQaed said that iGA continuously works with the public and private sectors to further improve its eServices, and will form a new strategy in 2020 aimed at further enhancing its digital transformation efforts and application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies.

Mr AlQaed said that iGA is committed to serving the public and regularly measures customer satisfaction levels across all eServices via its official social media accounts and surveys. It performs an annual customer satisfaction study and takes into consideration the findings of the Government Service Centre Evaluation Committee, Taqyeem. Mr AlQaed announced that iGA, in partnership with relevant entities, is close to launching the Sehati app, which will provide a unified platform for health services and will be of great importance to citizens, residents and visitors. The Sehati app was downloaded 42,414 times last year, while the usage reached 301,404 time. iGA Deputy Chief Executive, eTransformation, Dr Zakareya Ahmed AlKhajah said that iGA implemented a number of innovations, such as improving its ePayment mechanisms, and launching 40 comprehensive eServices in co-operation with 14 government entities.

It has also worked with the financial sector on FinTech projects, launching an eWallet, the first of its kind in the Middle East; linking the financial sector to a Know Your Customer (eKYC) eSystem, activating an ID card updating self-service; and carrying out 37 comprehensive studies on government initiatives and services. Mr AlKhajah delivered a presentation that showed an 82 per cent increase in the speed of processing transportation and traffic transactions in 2019, resulting in an 83pc reduction in the cost of providing the services, as well as improvements to traffic safety. He highlighted the main services that iGA developed for the sector, including online public transport vehicle registration renewals, and the issuing of international driving licenses. The presentation highlighted the speed of delivering electricity and water eServices to 67pc, reducing the cost of providing the services by 94pc, while the processing of justice and Islamic affairs transactions sped up by 55pc, reducing the cost of providing the services by 76pc.

The complete of service delivery of community assistance program transactions improved by 75pc, reducing the cost of providing the services by 98pc, while housing and real estate transaction service delivery improved by 77pc, allowing for a 75pc reduction in the cost of providing the services.

For education, transaction times improved by 75pc with cost of providing the services reducing by 85pc. Employment recorded processing time improvements of 70pc with cost of providing the services reductions of 98pc, also indicating improvements in communications with the public through the Government Notification System (NotifyMe) and the National Suggestion and Complaint system, Tawasul. He added that that iGA developed financial services in association with the private sector that achieved transaction time improvements of 83pc, reducing the cost of providing the services by 97pc, while the speed of processing of personal documents improved by 67pc, with reducing of the cost of providing the services by 97pc.