More than 920,000 e-transactions at Traffic Directorate last year

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Staff Reporter

E-transactions within the Traffic Directorate soared last year with 81 per cent of directorate services being carried out electronically.

This information was revealed by Brigadier Shaikh Abdulrahman bin Abdulwahab Al Khalifa, Director General of the General Traffic Department yesterday.

More than 920,000 e-transactions were carried out last year, highlighting the Kingdom’s success saga in E-Governance.

The Director-General affirmed the continuation of development plans and vision set by Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa to ensure the investment of technology towards the development of electronic services following Bahrain Vision 2030.

Brig Shaikh Abdulrahman indicated that the main objective of developing the traffic system is to reduce the transaction time using electronic applications through the e-government website bahrain.bh.

As per the latest iGA statistics, government apps for smart devices recorded a 141 per cent increase in the number of users, reaching 1,349,000.

Transactions during 2021 topped 937,000, an increase of 84pc.

More than BD54 million was collected in revenue, an increase of 98pc due to newly launched apps for smart devices.

iGA Chief Executive Mohammed Ali Al Qaed pointed out that iGA is committed to achieving the leadership’s vision and implementing the directives of the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology (SCICT), chaired by Deputy Prime Minister, Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa to accelerate the launch of digital strategies and technical initiatives.

He also reaffirmed implementing the directives of the Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen. Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa to enhance services within the government sector and work with all public and private organisations to improve their offerings in a way that benefits citizens and residents.

The iGA, since the launch of the Kingdom’s digital transformation strategy and until the end of 2021, had provided over 563 services via online channels.

434 of these are offered through the National Portal, bahrain.bh, 19 through self-service kiosks, and 110 via smartphone apps that can be downloaded from the eGovernment Apps Store, bahrain.bh/apps.

There was also an 86pc reduction in government operational expenses due to restructured procedures, which led to a 77pc reduction in the time needed to complete transactions.

This helped safeguard the public’s health during the pandemic, as there was almost no need to visit service centres.

Financial transactions at all government entities increased by 65pc compared to 2020, exceeding 3.7 million.

The Ministry of Interior launched the lion’s share of new eServices in 2021, 38 in total, including 18 for the General Directorate of Traffic (GDT); six for the iGA; five for Nationality, Passport and Residence Affairs; four each for Civil Defence and the Guards Training School; and one for Customs Affairs.

There were six for the Ministry of Housing, one for the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), five for youth and sports, four for transportation and telecommunications, two for judicial services, and one for the Supreme Council for Environment (SCE).