Bahrain’s Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) said that it has reengineering of 40 eServices, which allowed for an 88 per cent reduction in the costs of providing the government services, and a 74 per cent reduction in processing times.
Across all channels, iGA eServices generated BD156 million ($411 million) through more than 1.6 million transactions during the year.
iGA chief executive Mohammed Ali Al Qaed announced the results at a press conference detailing the achievements of the 2019 eGovernment Strategy.
Al Qaed said that iGA initiated more than 400 active eServices since the launch of the eGovernment program, adding that these achievements reflect iGA’s commitment to the directives of the Kingdom’s senior leadership aimed at achieving the objectives of Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030.
They also implement the decisions of the Supreme Committee for Information & Communication Technology (SCICT), chaired by Deputy Prime Minister, HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, and the directives of the Minister of Interior, HE Gen. Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa.
The achievements also reflect iGA’s commitment to its strategy of digital transformation. Al Qaed noted that the objectives of the strategy have been met in a range of 12 government sectors, including transportation, traffic, water & electricity, housing & real estate, education, health, employment, banking, etc.
Al Qaed said that iGA continuously works with the public and private sectors to further improve its eServices, and will form a new strategy in 2020 aimed at further enhancing its digital transformation efforts and application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies.
Al Qaed said that iGA is committed to serving the public and regularly measures customer satisfaction levels across all eServices via its official social media accounts and surveys. It performs an annual customer satisfaction study and takes into consideration the findings of the Government Service Center Evaluation Committee, Taqyeem.
Al Qaed announced that iGA, in partnership with relevant entities, is close to launching the Sehati app, which will provide a unified platform for health services and will be of great importance to citizens, residents and visitors. The Sehati app was downloaded 42,414 times last year, while the usage reached 301,404 times.
iGA deputy chief executive, eTransformation, Dr Zakareya Ahmed AlKhajah said that iGA implemented a number of innovations, such as improving its ePayment mechanisms, and launching 40 comprehensive eServices in cooperation with 14 government entities
It has also worked with the financial sector on FinTech projects, launching an eWallet, the first of its kind in the Middle East; linking the financial sector to a Know Your Customer (eKYC) eSystem, activating an ID card updating self-service; and carrying out 37 comprehensive studies on government initiatives and services.
AlKhajah delivered a presentation that showed an 82 per cent increase in the speed of processing transportation and traffic transactions in 2019, resulting in an 83 per cent reduction in the cost of providing the services, as well as improvements to traffic safety. He highlighted the main services that iGA developed for the sector, including online public transport vehicle registration renewals, and the issuing of international driving licenses.
The presentation highlighted the speed of delivery Electricity & water eServices to 67 per cent, reducing the cost of providing the services by 94 per cent, while the processing of justice and Islamic affairs transactions sped up by 55 per cent, reducing the cost of providing the services by 76 per cent.
The complete of service delivery of community assistance program transactions improved by 75 per cent, reducing the cost of providing the services by 98 per cent, while housing and real estate transaction service delivery improved by 77 per cent, allowing for a 75 per cent reduction in the cost of providing the services . For education, transaction times improved by 75 per cent with cost of providing the services reducing by 85 per cent.
Employment recorded processing time improvements of 70 per cent with cost of providing the services reductions of 98 per cent, also indicating improvements in communications with the public through the Government Notification System (NotifyMe) and the National Suggestion & Complaint system, Tawasul.
He added that that iGA developed financial services in association with the private sector that achieved transaction time improvements of 83 per cent, reducing the cost of providing the services by 97 per cent, while the speed of processing of personal documents improved by 67 per cent, with reducing of the cost of providing the services by 97 per cent.