RIYADH, 16 January 2007 — As many as 300 services have been identified and delivered online to citizens of Madinah under its e-government program.
In a joint interview with Arab News, Badisham Ghazali, chief executive officer, Multimedia Development Corporation (MDEC), and Mohamad Suhaimi Mohamad Tahir, CEO, MSC (Multimedia Super Corridor), said the launch of these services enable Saudi citizens to make various payments, monitor their children’s academic records and obtain a number of other services in an e-environment in the Madinah province.
Ghazali and his accompanying delegation arrived here to participate in the national e-transactions conference that was inaugurated at the King Fahd Cultural Center on Sunday night. The Multimedia Development Corporation (MDEC) and the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry are leading a team of e-government experts for the conference to share Malaysia’s experience in this sector.
Its Chief Executive Officer Badlisham Ghazali told Arab News that Malaysia’s experience in implementing e-government projects such as e-procurement, e-billing, e-management and ICT security applications and emergency response systems have provided a valuable resource which could be tapped. Referring to the e- Madinah project, he said it was designed in 2003-2004 to enable the government agencies in the Madinah governorate to use IT for the delivery of government services to the citizens.
Elaborating on the statement, Mohamad Suhaimi Mohamad Tahir, CEO of MSC Technology Center said: “Our company was contracted by Integrated Vision, a Saudi-Malaysian joint venture firm, on behalf of the Madinah governorate to develop a strategy for e-government initiatives in that province. We did a readiness assessment on 60 government agencies to find out the areas which could go online.”
Tahir pointed out that these e-services have already become a model for standardizing similar delivery options in Jeddah, Makkah, Riyadh and the Eastern Province. Foreigners around the world wishing to perform Umrah and visit Madinah could also avail themselves of the e-services in making reservations and downloading information on various facilities, including places to visit.
Referring to the scope for future cooperation, Ghazali said his delegation was here both to share their experience with the Saudis and also to learn from them. One area of concern that needs to be addressed is the healthcare, where IT could drive up the delivery cost. He said MDEC has to weigh both the pros and cons in coming up with cost-effective solutions that leverage the strength of IT without imposing additional burden on the common man. However, the cost could come down with the increase in the volume of service.
As for smart schools, he said the idea is to introduce students to information technology at a young age so that they could benefit from IT as early as possible. As many as 10,000 schools in different parts of the country have been converted into smart schools. “We have linked 8,500 schools so far,” he observed.