Doha: Building permits in Qatar would be available online soon that would help cut red tapes and cope with the extremely high construction rate in the country, Qatar e-Government Director, Dr Ahmed Hamad al Mohannadi said here yesterday.
Al Mohannadi said the platform is under construction having reached the second of its three development phases, noting that such service will be the first of its kind anywhere in the world.
He told reporters the service would integrate all the concerned bodies and that he would have liked to see the project move faster, but that people are still reluctant to adopt the changes.
Qatar e-Government provides a total of eleven services so far, ranging from online application for an official copy of birth certificate from the Ministry of Public Health, online registration of new students, Qatari employment service to driving license renewal and traffic violations fines payment.
Al Mohannadi presented a case study on Qatar e-Government at the 'e-Government Challenge' symposium which was held yesterday at Inter-continental Hotel.
QNB and Q-Post are platinum sponsors of the event, which is supported by Qatar e-Government and organised by Geo Tech W L L.
Khalid Al-Emadi, Chief of e-Government at Q-Post Corporation, in his presentation at the symposium said statistics for 2004 on e-Government unit at Q-Post shows that 51,498 transactions were executed during the year.
He commended e-Government services provided through Q-Post which, he said are gaining wide acceptance from users.
However, Al-Emadi pointed out that e-Government is still facing several challenges, like the need to change old mentalities and encourage people to turn to e-Government.
He noted that rules should be flexible so that they can be adapted to e-Government regulations and that the ministries that provide services through e-Government also should be flexible.
A-Emadi said some individuals or companies are reluctant to adopt the e-Government services and stressed the importance of advertising campaigns to highlight the benefits of e-Government services.
Abdulamir Mryhij, GBM, e-business Practice Manager, who also presented a paper in the symposium, highlighted the necessary infrastructure to establish e-government, while Issam W Alameh, Development and Maintenance Manager, e-Government Project illustrated the Qatar e-Government framework.
© The Peninsula 2005
