Citizens still unfamiliar with online public services
Online public services are meant to help reduce direct contact between citizens and State employees to prevent corrupt practices, yet few people are using such services.
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For labor procedures, the rate of online performance was a mere 1%. The situation was the same with economic, land, construction, civil status and food safety groups, with only 1-2% of public services performed online.
However, while online public services in districts are still largely unknown to people, the performance at certain municipal departments fares much better.
For instance, the percentage was 73% at the Department of Education and Training, 68% at the Department of Industry and Trade and 59% at the Department of Transport.
On the contrary, the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Welfare and the Department of Planning and Architecture both recorded a zero rate of online application processing.
A number of reasons for the limited use of online public services were identified by some districts and departments at the meeting on March 15, such as the lack of finance, and troubles with the regulations of relevant ministries.
Talking to the press at the meeting, HCMC vice chairman Tran Vinh Tuyen said the city must accelerate the provision of online public services as a basic solution to building a government serving the people, and lessen harassment and trouble for people and the business community.
He admitted the dissemination of information about online public services to people and businesses in the city had remained poor.
Therefore, Tuyen asked districts to set up a consultancy team in each of 332 communes and wards across the city to make people familiar with online public services. In addition, districts need to provide training for enterprises to get used to such services (at least two sessions between now and the end of 2017).
In line with that, the Department of Home Affairs will send the municipal government a petition for the HCM City People’s Council to consider lowering or even removing the charges on online public services to encourage access to these services.
In immediate future, Tuyen requested the Department of Information and Communications to provide municipal departments with digital signatures this April to oblige inter-departmental units and districts to terminate the use of printed matter.
Also in April, the Department of Planning and Architecture together with districts must disclose all the plans of scale 1/2000 online, including population targets, as a source of reference for citizens and businesses.
