E-gov’t services still unpopular despite availability — Shweikeh

AMMAN — Although 122 e-government services were launched in the first phase of service automation in the period 2015-2016, few people have been using them so far, ICT Minister Majd Shweikeh said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the conference of IT executive directors of public agencies on the e-government programme, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Hani Mulki, the minister ascribed the low number of users to the lack of promotion and the difficult procedures associated with some services. 

To increase the utilisation of e-services, Shweikeh, who is also minister of public sector development, proposed solutions such as awareness campaigns and making the use of some services mandatory, such as paying traffic tickets electronically, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The minister highlighted plans to increase the number of e-government services to 350 by 2019.

E-services currently available include vocational licence renewal, certificates of non-convection, vehicle licence renewal and traffic ticket payments, in addition to several services at the Social Security Corporation and the departments of customs and income tax.

The conference aimed at sharing expertise and innovative thoughts to develop e-government services and come up with recommendations and applicable solutions. 

HRH Princess Sumaya, the president of the board of trustees of the Princess Sumaya University for Technology, also attended the inauguration ceremony.

On the sidelines of the conference, Mulki also toured the governmental information centre affiliated with the National Information Technology Centre.

Mulki stressed the importance of the e-government programme for its role in saving time and efforts, and enhancing transparency.