In a great effort to promote its administrative procedure reform and enhance the efficiency of its information technology applications, over recent times, Da Nang has geared up the provision of online public services. As of late August, the number of online public service level 4, the highest level in Viet Nam’s online public service system, accounted for 40.1% of Da Nang’s total administrative procedures, exceeding by 10% of this year’s national target previously set by the Vietnamese government.

A scene of the one-stop shop in the Da Nang Administrative Centre

As of late last month, a total of 1,589 public service services had fully gone online, available for public access on the portal at https://dichvucong.danang.gov.vn, of which 1,577 were offered by the district and ward/ commune-level authorities and municipal departments, whilst the remainder were operated by 12 the city-based national government agencies.

The municipal Department of Information and Communications-launched portal aims to ensure better public access to local online administrative procedures with the steps of performing payment transactions and sending feedback conducted in a quick and effective fashion.

According to the recent statistics released by the municipal Department of Information and Communications, as of late August, a total of 678 online public services, including online the submission of dossiers, payment transactions and the returning of the results of administrative procedures, had been offered at level 4.

According to guidelines laid out by the Vietnamese government, online public services in the country are categorised into four levels, depending on the range of tasks that can be performed digitally.

The first level comprises public services that provide online access to all information regarding the service, including procedures, required papers, deadlines, fees and service charges.

Public services in the second level meet all criteria of the first group, in addition to allowing users to download forms and sample documents to be filled out at home before they are submitted to competent authorities.

The third level includes public services of the second group that also allows online submission of the papers, while still requiring users to pay fees and service charges at the relevant government bodies.

Public services falling into the fourth level are those in the third group that have an integrated online payment system. Processed papers are sent to users via mail or the Internet without requiring their presence at a public body at any stage during the procedure. Service payments can be settled online at the fourth level.

A local resident learning about the list of local administrative procedures in a residential area, Hoa Cuong Nam Ward, Hai Chau District

In the coming time, local government agencies will continue to implement such many practical solutions as promoting non-cash payments, shortening time taken for handling documents, offering even more online services, developing more mobile apps for public services, encourage the use of digital signatures and promoting the provision of e-citizen accounts.

Mr Le Phi Hai, the General Director of the Thanh Khe district-based Hai Nam Media Company, specialising in media and advertising, highlighted the high significance of online public services by municipal government agencies in considerably facilitating locals and businesses in saving time and money. On the other hand, there is no denying that the use of online public services may help increase publicity and transparency, and reduce negative phenomena relating to bureaucratic red tape.

It can be seen that the provision of online public administrative services is promoted in terms of levels and scopes across the city in recent years, hereby helping modernise the local administration, enhance the quality of public administrative service delivery, and partly promote the whole country’s digital transformation as per request of the Prime Minister.

By TRONG HUY – By A.T