RAK Government launches e-services portal

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        'caption' => 'H.H. Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, at the e- Government conference organised by the RAK e- Government Authority (RAK- eGA) at Hotel Hilton in Ras al Khaimah on Monday.',
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The conference saw the official launch of the new e- services portal of RAK Government, 'www.rak.ae', offering 30 government- related services online to the public.

RAK- eGA

RAK- eGA also announced the launch of mobile e- government services whereby people could access e-services through their mobile phones.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Hashem Ar-Refaei, Director General of RAK- eGA and IT Advisor, Government of Ras Al Khaimah, said, 'The offering of the first bunch of e-services marks a milestone in RAK- eGA's attempts to make available easy- to- use, integrated and quality- driven ICT services to maximize productivity and attract investments to the emirate, as envisioned by H.H. Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah'.

Dr. Refaei said that people would be able to undertake a host of government related transactions like online payment of utility bills and traffic fines, track the status of applications at various government departments, and other services through the portal which has separate sections for individuals, businesses and government.

'The business community too could access a host of online services like renewal of business license, payment of trade license fines, real estate property management services, request for building permit, and many other services through the portal,' he said and added that RAK- eGA was in the process of making available 155 electronic services online within the next year.

Dr. Refaei noted that RAK- eGA has completed the first phase of its e- government initiatives by completing total computerization and automation of government departments, setting up an archiving system for documents and implementing an electronic communication system within departments.

RAK- eGA has also set up an attendance monitoring system for government employees and has completed training for around 1400 employees to adopt the e- Government system. He said that RAK Government has spend around Dhs22m so for as part of its e- government initiatives.

Dr. Mohammed Bu Alhamam, Head of the RAK Geographic Information System (GIS) Committee, said that the development and implementation of an Enterprise GIS solution for the entire emirate was in the final phases and would be completed by December 2008.

He said that 16 key- GIS applications have been developed as part of the RAK- GIS project, allowing for sharing spatial datasets and applications with government departments, companies and the public, to be used in areas like land planning and management, mapping, sewerage management, project tracking, fleet management and many others.

Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore, India, presented a paper on Technology Trends in GIS and IT.

Other speakers at the conference included Salem Al Shaer, Director, e- Services, Dubai e-Government, Abdul Rahman Al Theheiban, Vice President and Managing Director, Oracle (Middle East and Africa). Dr Abdul Rahman Sabri, Director of Communication and IT Administration, League of Arab States, Mazen Jabri, General Manager, Cisco Systems, UAE, among others.