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Municipality to put 90% of services online(Gulf News Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Dubai: Dubai Municipality is on the way to offering 90 per cent of its services online by 2007 to benefit customers and help save time and resources. The civic body has also started reviewing its online service strategy to increase the number of clients, said Hussain Lootah, Acting Director-General of the Municipality. "We have entered phase four of the e-Government initiative and are having a total revamp of e-government IT infrastructure," he said. Strategy Lootah said the municipality hoped to reach its target of having 90 per cent of its services online and at least 50 per cent online transactions by 2007. "We are reviewing our strategy through 2007 as per the vision of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai," he said. As part of its fourth phase, the Municipality yesterday announced the launch of a new set of online services as part of its e-Government initiative, taking the total number of online services it provides to 381. The new services include some 42 services related to the Building Licensing Section of the civic body's Building Department in such fields as obtaining permission for amendments to existing buildings and licences for excavation work. He said there would be no manual services once all the 101 services of the building department were available online by the end of this year. "Our aim is to have maximum online clients so that we can improve customer service, improve our processes and reduce costs by saving time, money and effort," said Saleh. Help at hand Dubai Municipality will provide training to those using the e-services being offered. "The focus will be on educating both the end-users and municipality staff to encourage more people to use online services," said Abdul Hakim Malek, Director, Information Technology Department. The site, www.dm.gov.ae, offers a total of 381 services. |