Dubai eGovernment introduces free online payment facility for public services through ePay

The free service is provided by Dubai eGovernment as part of its goal of simplifying the lives of the people and the business community, by offering a unified mode of payment for public services. This will benefit citizens who had to previously pay a processing or user fee to make online payments for some government services.

ePay is a highly secure online payment mode that allows registered users to pay for public utilities or fines using the eDirham card under approval of the UAE Ministry of Finance and Industry or a credit card. Among the earliest departments to offer the ePay services were Dubai Municipality, Department of Health and Medical Services (DOHMS), Electronic Total Quality Management College (eTQM) and Dubai Development Board.

"ePay has been well received by members of the public. Dubai Municipality and DOHMS have reported that the number of customers using ePay for payment has seen a steady increase in recent months," said Salem Al Shair, Director, eServices, Dubai eGovernment. "We are delighted to offer ePay as a free service to online users and we expect more people to take advantage of this user-friendly facility."

"The success has now prompted a number of other key departments to join the ePay network. In the coming months, most of the government departments will be offering online payment facility through ePay. This will truly take us to the most advanced stage of e-governance, bringing us closer to the ultimate advantage of online services," Al Shair said.

"Dubai eGovernment has worked closely with banks, concerned departments, Comtrust and the eDirham portal to ensure that the system is foolproof," added Al Shair. "All security concerns have been addressed to offer citizens a secure and user-friendly payment mode, using two different payment options; eDirham or credit cards. Currently, 60 per cent of online transactions are done using eDirham, while the rest are through credit cards. Users have expressed satisfaction over the system and we are confident the number will increase dramatically as the advantages of ePay are realised by more departments as well as users."

"ePay is the ideal payment mode for settling bills and other public services because it offers several advantages," said Mahmoud Al Bastaki, ePay Project Manager, Dubai eGovernment. "It is a centralised payment gateway that offers the unparalleled convenience of paying any time from anywhere in the world. It eliminates the need for over-the-counter payment, thus saving time and inconvenience. It is quick and allows multiple transactions at the touch of a key."

"For the participating government departments, ePay brings several benefits. It helps minimise running costs by automating the systems. It saves them the costs of maintaining their own online payment facilities. It unifies the business agreements with all the concerned financial institutions such as banks and payment service providers. It also saves the government departments the trouble of selecting payment application development vendors, as they can directly use an integrated payment application managed by Dubai eGovernment," Al Bastaki added.