China's neighbourhood committees are responsible for granting birth permits and other family planning certificates According to the scheme to build a "digital Guangzhou" all neighbourhood committees will be equipped with computer systems before the end of 2006.
To this end, the Guangzhou municipal government has decided to invest more than US$193 million to develop the city's information industry in the following two years. In that time the authorities intend that all the city's government departments, bureaux and organisations will open online services to the residents.
Guangzhou is the largest city in China's Guangdong province, which had more than 9.7 million internet users as of June 2004 - the largest number of any Chinese province. Guangdong has 4.4 million computers with internet access, according to official statistics. Provicial officials have attributed Guangdong's rapid growth in internet usage to local e-government efforts.
Quelle: Public Sector Technology & Management, 26.08.2004
