Saudi to invest Dhs3 billion in e-transactions programme

The interaction came at the National e-Transactions Conference 2007 which was held during 14th - 17th January in Riyadh with an objective of creating and contributing to public awareness by promoting e-Business and e-Transactions within Saudi Arabia, enabling both the private and public sectors to fulfill their day-to-day business needs and demands, better delivery of government services to citizens, improving interactions within business and industry, empowering citizens through access to information and efficiently driving government management.

Majid Sultan Al Muhairi, Head of e-Government Services Section at the Information Technology Department of the municipality, presented a paper on the e-Government project of the civic body and participated in a panel discussion on "The e-Government National Portal".

Al Muhairi said the municipality has attained a key milestone in its online service delivery with 90 percent of all services now available online, a full year in advance of the schedule laid out by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

He noted that Dubai Municipality offers 518 online services. Among them, the most commonly used are the DM Clinic Health Certificates, the No Objection Certification, Food Control Health Certificates and Dubai Central Labs (DCL)-Block Certificates. The Clinic Health Certificates service primarily serves companies in Dubai that apply for occupational health cards and medical certificates, and allows companies track the status of their applications or amend applications if required. The DCL certification service allows customers to apply for block certificates over the internet, check status and amend applications online, whereas the NOC service provides contractors, consultants and service agents within Dubai with the facility to submit online requests for NOCs.

Dubai Municipality's e-services have been generating excellent response, with a total of over two million transactions carried out till date.