Dubai Municipality launches new-look web portal

Abdullah Al Shaibani, Assistant Director General of Dubai Municipality for Technical Services, said the new portal is designed in such a way that it would meet the changing needs of the customers and integrate state-of-the-art technology in communication and exchange of information.

"The new-look portal makes browsing easier and smoother for the visitors. It incorporates several innovative features that would satisfy different needs and tastes of our customers," said Al Shaibani.

He noted that this is the third time Dubai Municipality is redesignining its web portal, the previous two being in 1998 and 2001. "At every stage, we seek the valuable suggestions and opinions of our customers so as to deliver the best. It is this constant effort on our part to adapt that has won us the Excellent Electronic Department Award in 2003 as part of the Dubai Government's Excellence Awards," he said.

He noted that the new look portal includes several new channels that are planned to go on periodical replacement, new navigation and category structure, new content, more links, more information, new standard style, and multiple banner display.

"In line with the municipality's policy to attract suggestions from the customers, we have added a special link at the header of the homepage for 'Have Your Say', the suggestion scheme of the Municipality. Then there are attractive channels such as the Awards and DM Projects and Initiatives. This will give the portal a continuous fresh and vital look," he added.

Explaining other features of the portal, AbdulHakim Malik, Director of Information Technology Department at the Municipality, said there is a special arena for kids, 'Kids Corner', where the civic body's initiatives, projects and activities for the kids have been highlighted. The 'Currency Converter' will be useful specially for tourists who need to know exchange rates when they plan to visit Dubai. The 'Festivals' link will given an idea of Dubai Municipality's role in the festivals like Dubai Shopping Festival and Dubai Summer Surprises.

He noted that other online sections include 'Conferences', 'Educational Programmes', 'City Guide', 'Dubai Today', Dubai Municipality Profile and a lot more.

The Dubai Municipality portal is just days away from accomplishing its one millionth online transaction ever since it began offering a variety of e-Services in October 2001, with an average weekly rate of 10,000 transactions.