DM launches innovative environmental fines voice portal

Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Acting Director General of Dubai Municipality, said:

"The new service, which was designed to automate and optimize the procedure for reporting environment-related offenses in Dubai, enables Dubai Municipality enforcement officers to quickly and conveniently capture and communicate an offender's details, reducing the time between the offense being committed and a fine being issued."

He said the new service launched by the Municipality, available in Arabic and English, can only be used by a number of privileged and high profile personnel while they are on the move.

"They can issue offenders fines on the spot by simply dialing a dedicated telephone number and reporting traffic and environmental offenses using nothing but their natural voice, dialect and accent. There's no need to use the telephone's keypad to report offenses. Officers are required to simply speak. The rest is handled automatically by the system," said Lootah.

He said the sophisticated solution uses voice biometrics proven technology to verify a Dubai Municipality officer's identity and authenticate them to issue traffic fines and instantly report violations of various environment-related offenses across the city.

"The reporting process takes less than a minute, at the end of which offenders receive an instant text message (SMS) to inform them that a fine has been logged against them," said Lootah.

He said the new voice portal will help Dubai Municipality preserve and protect the natural environment of the city and make Dubai one of the cleanest cities in the world.

"We will use this system for all services available with the Municipality through the new voice portal solution, which is easily and quickly accessible for the public," said Lootah.

The project commenced less than a year ago with the joint efforts of the Information Technology and Waste Management departments of the Municipality, who formed a working group with qualified and competent national employees.

Lootah said Dubai Municipality is the first government department to implement this voice portal solution for entering violations in the whole Middle East region.

As for the officials who will be given law enforcement powers, Lootah said, the Municipality will issue necessary regulatory orders that will confer law enforcement powers in the field of public cleanliness monitoring to them.

He said the Waste Management Department aims to activate its social role in preserving the environmental and hygienic achievements and also protecting the public cleanliness standards of the emirate of Dubai by selecting persons from the Municipality and from outside to be given law enforcement powers.

"Currently there are 548 such officials and due to their efforts in implementing the local order pertaining to public cleanliness 4,280 fines has been issued in 2007. A guidance manual is also prepared for qualifying them to carry out the task of issuing a bigger number of fines," said Lootah.

"As a result of the different monitoring and inspection programmes carried out by the 141 supervision and monitoring employees, in addition to the law enforcement officials and the intensification of monitoring as well as effective use of supervision and monitoring mechanism and expansion of the law enforcement programme, it is being possible to ensure and protect the high levels of cleanliness in the city," he said.

Lootah hoped that the new voice portal system will be able to play a positive role in activating the social monitoring role by simplifying the fine issuing and receiving operations.