The Uzbek cabinet wants better government websites than the ones it has seen so far.
"The main problem is a lack of skilled system administrators to run the websites," Salimjon Faizullayev, manager of the government's ZiyoNet educational clearing-house website, noted. "Also, some high-ranking officials consider their agencies' websites an 'excessive burden.'"
Under the 2013-2020 National Information and Communication System Development Programme, the country plans to establish an electronic government (e-government) system enabling citizens to request every form of government service via the internet.
"Implementation is going full speed ahead, but the government wants it to still go faster and to ensure high quality," Majit Abdurasulov, a spokesman for the Co-ordinating Council on the Development of Computerisation and Information and Communication Technologies, told Central Asia Online.
March 1 deadline
The government resolution about the internet service, issued December 31, calls for the websites of all government bodies to be modernised by March 1, Abdurasulov said.
"The website of a government body, such as a ministry, other agency, a local government, etc., must be fully functional if accessed from a cell phone and be easy for the disabled to use," he added. "As a separate requirement, (the authorities must) introduce technologies enabling them to gather data on public opinion and to communicate with individual citizens. We mean chat forums, blogs, guest-books and polls."
"The ... criteria will include the existence/non-existence of a website as such, as well as its information security and stability of operation," Abdurasulov said. Many government websites need considerable work, computer specialists and ordinary users say.
"Creating a website for each government agency was a very good idea, but its implementation ... has been far from perfect," Tashkent website developer Arkadiy Merkulov told Central Asia Online.
Many of the agencies' websites are vulnerable to hacking because they are based on freeware, Merkulov warned, adding that such issues evidently prompted the latest decree.
Better but simpler is the goal
Establishing a common portal for interactive government services is a major state project – part of the general e-government programme – designed to give Uzbeks maximum access to government services online.
"The common portal (My.gov.uz) takes upon itself the functions of all government websites; a user can apply for information, request copies of documents, register a legal entity, and receive dozens of other services," Dilshod Khairullayev, a spokesman for the State Committee on Communications, Informatisation and Telecommunication Technologies, told Central Asia Online. "One of the most important services is the chance for the public to contact government officials. Formerly, you had to write an [old-fashioned] letter to do that; now you can exercise your lawful right [to contact an official] without leaving your home."
"At first, I had my doubts ... about this common portal," Tashkent woman Darya Khalmurzayeva said. "But I decided to try it. ... I e-mailed the local utility, complaining about the dilapidated condition of [our apartment building]'s inner courtyard. To my surprise, someone called me five days later from the district government. ... Workers actually came and filled in the potholes with asphalt."
The authorities want to broaden the range of services Uzbeks can request via the internet.
"Uzbeks are supposed to exchange their passports for new biometric documents before 2015," Khairullayev said. "With only a year left before that deadline, long lines have formed at the country's passport offices. To help the public, Uzbekistan has integrated a system for requesting one's biometric passport online. This online service has been available since January 10 to residents of one Tashkent district so far, but soon it'll be available to everyone nationwide."
"The innovations include an app for letting cell phone users access the common portal," Khairullayev added. "Such an app is already available for free at ... Google Play. ... Accessing the portal by cell phone is convenient, for example, when you're witnessing a violation that you want to photograph on the spot [and want to report]."
One obstacle to widespread e-service use in Uzbekistan is the low average internet speed – the country ranked 168th out of 188 in average consumer download speed in the latest results from Speedtest.net – but state-owned UzbekTelekom said it would be possible to quadruple the speed of Uzbekistan's internet connection to the outside world this year.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Maksim Yeniseyev
Quelle/Source: Central Asia Online, 03.02.2014
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