People will be able use the Internet by the end of the year to renew their driving licences, register their vehicles, pay traffic fines, renew their Central Population Register (CPR) cards or register as unemployed.
It is all part of the expansion of e-government to speed up public services, says Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs and Central Informatics Organisation (CIO) president Shaikh Ahmed bin Ateyatalla Al Khalifa.
Communication between more ministries will also be done electronically by the end of the year, said Shaikh Ahmed.
"Many government offices have been able to speed up their services to the public by using the new technology," he revealed.
"People who had to wait earlier for four to five hours to get a CPR card now get them within 30 to 45 minutes.
"Services have been further improved by also opening the CPR offices in the afternoons.
"By switching over to the new Smart Card, the time factor is further reduced to 10 minutes or so."
The CIO has already started issuing the Smart Card to government employees, said Shaikh Ahmed.
"It takes only about 10 minutes to issue the new card by capturing the finger prints and photograph," he revealed.
The historic reforms initiated by His Majesty King Hamad will be reflected through improved services to the public from all government organisations, said Shaikh Ahmed.
"Now that the constitutional institutions are in place, it is important for the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to join hands with the government to ensure a high-quality service to the citizens and the residents," he noted.
"Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has given us the directives to offer the best and fastest services to the citizens and residents of Bahrain."
Shaikh Ahmed welcomed the response of the political societies and the NGOs to the new laws governing them.
"We appeal to the societies and NGOs to help us speed up the reforms process through their comments and suggestions," he added.
"At a time when the government is moving closer to the community, we want their constructive comments to push the reforms forward.
"The government is keen to further enhance the co-operation between the legislative and the executive branches in order to improve the citizens' standard of living and support their interest in better conditions."
Shaikh Ahmed said the development witnessed by the country and its people had been an uninterrupted process since the independence.
"The real challenge now is to continue the positive investment policy, and support all the efforts of the government to achieve a more conducive environment for economic success," he added.
"The fact that the assets of our banks have crossed BD130 billion is a reflection of the citizens' confidence in the government and its policies.
"Every effort must be made now to capitalise on this achievement for further growth."
The e-government project is a top priority for the High Committee for Information Technology and Communication, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, said Shaikh Ahmed.
"The committee has been instructed by the Premier to utilise the state-of-the-art information and communication technology to enhance administration systems, and develop more efficient ways of effectively co-ordinating and supporting decision-making within the Cabinet, with the National Assembly and across ministries," he added.
Autor: Soman Baby
Quelle: Gulf Daily News, 17.10.2005
