IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Deputy chief executive of the eGovernment Authority (eGA), Dr Zakareya Ahmed Al Khaja, revealed the latest payment services statistics for 2013, which have shown high demand through eGA's various channels with a growth of 25 per cent in the number of financial transactions amounting to BD17,795,710 in 2013.

Payment of electricity and water bills, university course fees and traffic contraventions are the top payment services in terms of the number and financial value of transactions.

Manned kiosks dotted around the country offering a "one-stop shop" for all government services could be set up to complement the existing eGovernment website and associated mobile apps, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs interregional adviser for eGovernment Richard Kerby told the GDN.

The meeting was attended by Mr. Jean Marie Kozya, Head of Public Administration and Governance in the department of Economic and Social Affairs, as well as a number of representatives from the eGovernment Authority from the Gulf States, including Deputy Chairman of Kuwait Information Technology Society Mr. Qusai Al-Shatti, as well as Advisor of the eGovernment Program ‘Yesser’ in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Mr. Mustafa Khan, as well as representatives from the Information Technology Authority of Sultanate Oman.

In this context, the Civil Service Bureau's IT Director Ahmed Abdulrahman Al-Mattaw'a saidd that the CSB has decided to stop expensive paperwork for monthly payrolls in order to upgrade work and speedily and easilty provide employee's with information through modern technologies as part of planned automation of government transactions in cooperation with the E-Government Authority which ensure top confidentiality whilst serving the beneficiaries of these services.

Customs fees and taxes can now be paid via the national portal bahrain.bh without the need to physically visit service centres, the Ministry of Interior’s Customs Affairs announced yesterday. Customs Affairs Finance head Hamad Buhijji said: “The new service, provided in collaboration with the Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA), is in line with the directives of Minister of Interior General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa to digitally transform all the ministry’s services.

“Customs fees, and the tax payment service, in particular, attract a high volume of requests, standing at approximately 73,000 transactions prior to the service going online.” He praised the partnership between Customs Affairs and the iGA, and expressed his appreciation for the authority’s efforts in making this service available to the public following a restructuring and revamping of processes and procedures, which are aimed at making it as accessible as possible.

Batelco, Bahrain's leading integrated digital solutions provider and Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, have collaborated to host a Datacentre Infrastructure Solutions workshop for its enterprise customers.

The Datacentre solutions offered by Batelco will enable businesses to protect their infrastructures from downtimes by managing systems through centralised monitoring system and capacity planning for Datacentres' critical operations. Additionally, the solution will take Datacentres into the next level by assisting businesses to optimise their performance, efficiency and IT physical infrastructure and keep it seamlessly aligned with their business needs.This will allow businesses to receive real-time insight into power, space and cooling that will support them in their continuous quest to better manage capacity, reduce risk and increase efficiency.

During the opening ceremony on April 9, the winners of the e-Government Excellence Awards 2012 will also be announced and honoured by Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak.

The development of education portal eduNET was discussed by the ICT Governance Committee (ICTGC) during its 33rd meeting. The gathering was chaired by Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) Chief Executive Mohammed Ali Al Qaed.

There, they discuss latest developments, including the operational budgets of different government entities and the enhancement of online education programs for schools and universities.

Al Wasat editor-in-chief Ubadyali Ubadyali made the comment as he opened the three-day MEET ICT Bahrain 2011 conference on Monday.

He said one of the biggest impacts of networks such as Facebook and Twitter was the ability to use them to communicate and mobilise, but said the Arab digital revolution was still catching up with the rest of the world.{mospagebreak}

Dr. Mohammed Bin Shams pointed out that the officials in charge of the e-government support all the programmes and activities presented by (BIPA) aiming at developing public administration and training plans in the state’s ministries and institutions, in a way to ensure elevating the level of public administration and supporting social and economic development plans in the Kingdom.

It is being run by a newly-formed company, Silah Gulf, which was also launched yesterday during a ceremony held under the patronage of and attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology chairman Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa.

The workshop aims to train senior public IT officials on ways of dealing with the latest administrative and technological requirements in order to be able to implement the strategic plans of their institutions.

Bahrain's eGovernment Authority (eGA) will organise a workshop 'Agile Business Analysis and Improvements' on the sidelines of the forum on April 22 and 23.

The workshop will shed light on how to drive change and improve processes with agile new frameworks such as scrum centres, utilising task scheduling and cost-risk analysis.

E-Government CEO, Mohammed Ali Al-Qaed said: We in the Authority believe in the significance of leadership role played by IT and telecommunications technologies in the current knowledge-based economic transformation in the Kingdom. We are keen on engaging all the partners in boosting technologies and capacity building as one of the success factors towards accomplishing the E-Government Strategy2013.

Bahrain's eGovernment Authority (eGA) is developing a platform to measure the interaction on different channels such as social media, a top official has said.

eGA deputy chief executive Dr Zakareya Ahmed Al Khaja said it was observed that Bahrain's market is recognising the mobility aspect and based on such observation, the authority is focusing on providing services through its mobile channel.

He said this while presenting Bahrain's National eGovernment Strategy 2016 on the second day of Bahrain International eGovernment Forum 2015 at the Isa Cultural Centre.

A delegation from Japan Information Technology Service Industry Association (JISA) visited the eGovernment Authority (eGA).

It was organised by the Economic Development Board and Bahrain-Japan Friendship Society.

The MoU was signed by eGA strategy, business process re-engineering and enterprise partnership director Nezar Maroof and Kotra vice-president Jong Kyung Kim.

Under the accord, the eGA will co-ordinate with Kotra to exchange expertise and visits as well as keep abreast of latest trends of ICT and eGovernment services.

The campaign which will run an entire month, will come to an end on August 8, and is a part of the eGovernment’s awareness activities that coincide with summer and the oncoming Ramadan, a statement from eGA said.

eGovernment Authority (eGA) chief executive Mohammed Ali Al Qaed told a Press conference at the Gulf Hotel yesterday that all services will be consistently defined, named and managed through an online services factbook.

"It is planned that 40 new eServices will be deployed annually, and all government service information will be made available online, with a view to ensuring an annual growth in uptake of online transaction based services by 10 per cent," he added.