Bahrain’s Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) has completed studying the first phase of the project ‘Development of Government Services’ as per the directives of HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa - Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister.

The study comprised of the re-engineering of procedures for 14 government services out of 25 included within the project. Work is currently underway to complete the remaining services during the month of September up until December 2017 – in collaboration with various concerned government entities.

The study has been implemented in line with the Government Executive Committee’s decision, as it has assigned the authority to execute the project after studying it in order to improve the quality of eServices, increase their competitiveness, and ensure transparency as well as efficiency in delivering services; in order to meet the aspirations of citizens and residents.

The project is conducted in collaboration with eight entities; namely Nationality, Passports & Residence Affairs (NPRA); General Directorate of Traffic (GDT); Ministry of Health (MoH); Survey & Land Registration Bureau (SLRB); Electricity & Water Authority (EWA); Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning; along with the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA).

In this regard, iGA chief executive Mohammed Ali Al Qaed praised the support the project has received from the Government Executive Committee chaired by HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa – indicating that the authority continuously seeks to employee modern techniques and technological advancements to contribute in building various sectors, particularly the government sector.

He also highlighted the government entities’ efforts, in addition to their constructive collaboration throughout this partnership, which has resulted in the provision of high-level professional government services for citizens and residents to enjoy.
Furthermore, he clarified that the authority - in this first phase - studied the re-engineering of procedures for seven services provided by EWA, four services by MoH,  two by GDT along with one by iGA. He added that this contributes in facilitating procedures conducted by the beneficiaries with less time, effort and costs in the event of the implementation of the study’s recommendations.

Two eServices from this project have already been launched. The first of which is the ‘Vehicle Registration Renewal’ which has enabled the service to now become completed in one hour, when it took a full week previously for its completion. The Second service is the launch of the online booking service concerning driving test appointments.

Additionally, the printing of the vehicle’s stickers, accompanied manual procedures as well as costs of printing posters have been cancelled. Similarly, saving costs on mail fees for the delivery of such services to citizens as well as taking the renewing of registrations service online has vastly increased the services’ efficiency.  – TradeArabia News Service