Since its inception in 2017 in the context of the rapid progress of social media channels, the Da Nang Public Service Portal- issued mobile application called ‘Gop Y Da Nang’ (Giving Complaints to Da Nang) for getting feedback on local services from the local community has proved highly effective.

Through the ‘ Gop Y Da Nang’, citizens can join efforts with the municipal government to build up an increasingly civilised, environmentally-friendly and beautiful city, and effectively implement the ‘City of 4 Safe Programmes’ campaign. In the photo is a clean, beautiful corner of Nguyen Van Linh Street, Hai Chau District

Over the four years of operation, this online feedback collection service has generated many positive effects and received a high appreciation by the general public, thus contributing to lifting the urban face, ensuring environmental sanitation, and security across the city.

The public can visit  https://gopy.danang.gov.vn or download the app from the App Store and CH Play for installation.

In addition to making constructive opinions and recommendations, users can take photos or make video clips of matters of deep concern to them, and then upload them directly to the app.

The uploaded complaints are classified into different categories, including traffic safety, social security, traffic safety, urban infrastructure, construction work, the environment and food safety and hygiene, real estate and the work performance of public servants.

Relevant local departments and agencies are required to reply to complainants, and deal with their reported issues within a few days of receiving the complaints.

However, if a case is complicated or sensitive, Da Nang Public Service Information Centre must immediately report the matter to the municipal government for dealing with as quickly as possible.

For instance, there was a complaint about a group of locals burning piles of trash containing electric and plastic wire along a street in Son Tra District’s Nai Hien Dong Ward in order to collect copper for sale.

This matter caused air pollution and unpleasant odour to some families living nearby, thereby sparking deep concern amongst the general public. Soon after, other relevant agencies jointly resolved this problem. In particular, effective measures were taken to ensure that such an environmental problem might not happen again.

Mr Nguyen Van Quoc, Director of the Da Nang Public Service Information Centre said that the online feedback collection service has, over recent times, been continuously upgraded and received high public appreciation.

Encouragingly, the number of constructive opinions and recommendations sent to the portal has increased year by year. In 2016 alone, the portal received 3,287 constructive suggestions, and this figure then reached 5,256 in 2017, 6,259 in 2018, and 6,731 in 2019. The majority of the collected recommendations were about urban infrastructure, environment and security.

Functional local bodies handled the comments posted by the public in a prompt yet effective manner, and made replies to them as soon as possible, thus ensuring high consensus and satisfaction to the public.

In addition to receiving comments and recommendations from organisations and citizens through the feedback collection service, in 2020, the Da Nang Public Service Information Centre has also developed an interdisciplinary feature for transferring public opinions and recommendations from such social networks as Facebook and Zalo, Email, Kuuho and the National Public Service Portal to the online feedback service portal

In particular, the identity of feedback makers is completely confidential, hereby helping people to boldly show their role and responsibility in joining hands with the municipal government to build up an increasingly civilised, environmentally-friendly and beautiful city, and effectively implement the ‘City of 4 Safe Programmes’ campaign in the years ahead.

Da Nang was the first city in Viet Nam to offer free wireless internet, with a maximum of 20,000 connections at a time for locals and tourists on major streets in the city, including living quarters, schools and beaches. The city plans to become a smart and green city by 2025.

By LAM PHUONG – Translated by A.T