He was speaking during the launch of the second generation of the e-government project, which was introduced 12 years ago.
The adventure to make various e-government services available online had been met with a lot of scepticism 12 years ago, Dr Gatt said, luckily it has also been met with hope and that is what made Malta’s e-governance rank first in Europe three times in a row. The results speak for themselves, he said.
The IT Minister, flanked by Malta Information Technology Agency chairman Claudio Grech and principal permanent secretary Gordon Grima, launched 56 online government services.
Dr Grima said e-governance brought a revolution in the public sector. “It was the only way forward to maximise each department’s resources as much as possible. The key to its success is to evaluate the current services, and simplify them as much as possible to be able to upload them on the system,” he said.
The structures used by the public service are sometimes too heavy to be simplified, he said, this should be an eye-opener.
The second generation of e-governance is a translation of the government’s vision to provide information anytime, everywhere and in any way that consumers need it, Dr Gatt added. The new platform gives users the opportunity to personalise the interface via one common portal www.forms.mygov.mt.
Around 90 services were available so far, 54 were added yesterday while some 350 more services are expected to go online by the end of next year and another 400 will be launched the following year.
The platform is capable of linking all of a customer’s relevant documentation, so it could work as the government’s back end system whereby if one department needs a document from another, this would already be available online, without having the consumer run from one department to another to retrieve all paperwork.
“The system should lead to a shift in methodology and mentality from government employees. Technology should be embraced by every politician, all government departments, all permanent secretaries and employees, and not just by private citizens,” Dr Gatt said.
Mr Grech described the development as an important move towards Malta remaining ahead of the curve when it comes to e-governance. “The services revolve around the user rather than around government entities. We focused on user friendliness to facilitate usage rather than turning a positive development into an inconvenience with customers having to follow up their queries by having to physically turn up at the different government departments,” he said.
The services online include application forms for various licences, such as for catering outlets, host families or water and electricity supply.
The system is accessible by applying for an e-identification number, by turning up at one of e-ID Registration Offices in Valletta or Victoria.
E-government does not happen in a vacuum but is a long process of evolution and also of maturity by both the public and the private sector, which rose to the occasion to be MITA’s partner in the process, Mr Grech said.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Elaine Attard
Quelle/Source: The Malta Independent Online, 02.12.2011
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