When the government comes to the neighborhood
In Phu Thuan ward, Mr. Nguyen Tuan Khai - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee, Director of the Ward Public Administration Service Center - said that the government has implemented many synchronous solutions to help people gradually get used to online public services.
The online dossier receipt and processing center has reached 99% - Mr. Khai said. All procedures are processed on the Ho Chi Minh City administrative procedure settlement information system, connected to hotline 1022 and the digital citizen application.
To create maximum convenience, Phu Thuan Ward People's Committee maintains the "one-stop-shop" model every Saturday. Ward officials coordinated with the neighborhood management board to go to residential areas and boarding houses to guide people. The model of "receiving and processing documents after work" on Monday and Tuesday afternoons is also applied to support busy people.
Similarly, in Xom Chieu ward, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam - Deputy Director of the Ward Public Administration Service Center - said that in more than a month, the center has received and processed more than 11,600 records, reaching a rate of 96.17%. Ms. Tam emphasized: "751 documents submitted online show that people have gradually become familiar with this form".
To support the people, the Xom Chieu Ward Public Administration Service Center has equipped computers and sent a team of union members to be on duty, ready to guide. In particular, since August 1, the center has piloted the reception of administrative boundary documents, allowing people in other wards to carry out procedures such as medical records, birth and death certificates, helping to significantly save time and travel expenses.
Challenges in technology and humans
However, the implementation of digital government also revealed certain difficulties. Mr. Nguyen Tuan Khai said that the large workload, cadres having to concurrently work in many areas, facilities and information technology infrastructure have not really met the requirements. On average, each officer must operate at least 5 different systems per day, from document management, administrative procedures, land to business registration.
Ms. Vo Thi Trung Trinh - Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Digital Transformation Center - admitted that in the initial stages of the arrangement, the city's software system still had some problems and gradually stabilized in mid-August. The biggest difficulty is the large amount of data, especially in the certification field, leading to not really smooth operation.
To solve this problem, Ho Chi Minh City has assigned the Department of Science and Technology to coordinate with the Department of Finance to allocate funding to improve connecting infrastructure. The Digital Transformation Center is also synchronizing infrastructure in 168 wards, communes and special zones, expected to be completed in the next 2 months. This is the first time Ho Chi Minh City has invested consistently in all wards and communes instead of individualally in each district as before, to ensure information security and improve operational efficiency.
