Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) Chief Executive Mohamed Ali Al Qaed said that iGA has launched a bundle of government e-Transformation initiatives and national projects during the year 2022.
The iGA has also launched the enhancement of the government’s eServices framework in-line with the objectives of the Government’s Action Plan and support the National ICT & Digital Economy strategy (2022-2026) as well as the Economic Recovery Plan to achieve the overall national development under the leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
Al Qaed said that with the continuous support and directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, the IGA has implemented the Kingdom’s eTransformation plans in partnership with the public entities.
The implementation was through the continuous development of government services and providing a high-readiness ICT infrastructure and eChannels that are beneficial to the citizens and residents.
In addition, number of key government services been improved, which had great impact on the national achievements of the comprehensive digital transformation, stressing on iGA’s on-going efforts to raise the efficiency and effectiveness of the government sector and improve government procedures through modern technologies.
Speaking at a press conference, Al Qaed was praised the continuous support and follow-up by Minister of Interior and Chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Information and Communications Technology Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa that have contributed greatly to the enhancement of the Authority’s efforts in achieving the digital transformation plans in the Kingdom.
The iGA continued its success in the launch of more than 50 new eServices through improving their procedures.
The improvement is demonstrated by achieving 3.7+ million eTransactions, through online channels and reducing government cost of providing services significantly by 96%, in average, besides reducing the effort and time.
Al Qaed added that in 2022, the iGA continued its efforts to accelerate the pace of digital transformation plans of the government agencies and its eServices provided, which resulted in achieving a series of key achievements, most notably 600+ eServices.
The achievements are among the government services with high priority as per the decisions of the Government Services Development Committee, praising the joint coordination and efforts between the Committee and government agencies, which had a great impact on the implementation plans.
Al Qaed said that 2022 was remarked with the launch of Al Tajir mobile app, the first integrated app of its kind in the region that serves businesses in Bahrain.
The app enables business users to complete and follow up transactions with various relevant government agencies through one single easy and convenient platform, saving their time and effort.
He also stressed that the Authority’s will launch the BeAware Bahrain App, with a bundle of new features and key services.
This comes in-line with the directives of the government and it will enhance the user experience of the application, being one of the most prominent national initiatives that reflect eTransformation and the employment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques.
The new features will include showing user’s digital government documents such as ID card, passport, birth certificate, driving license and vehicle registration (My Cards), as well as adding a feature related to health My Medical Appointments and My Health Cards.
The My Health Cards feature includes details and information related to the COVID-19 vaccination record, as well as a number of other additional features that individuals use on a daily basis and are a priority for them.
Deputy CE for e-Transformation Dr. Zakaria Ahmed Al Khaja highlighted the 2022 achievements and the upcoming iGA plans for eTransformation.
He stressed on iGA’s keenness to exert more efforts to achieve the desired aspirations in the Transformation sector, focusing on improving the quality of life for citizens and residents in the Kingdom and achieving sustainability for government services by transforming them and making them available through various electronic channels and mobile applications.
Regarding iGA’s achievements in 2022, Al Khaja said that the statistics and indicators were very positive.
The iGA team efforts have contributed in implementing national initiatives in the field of digital transformation and the continuous development of eChannels.
This has been represented by the increase of the number of e-services to more than 450 eServices through the National portal bahrain.bh, 19 eServices through self-service eKiosks.
They are in addition to more than 125 eServices through eGovernment mobile apps, which contributed to achieving more than 18 million visits to the National Portal (22% increase) and 89% average eService usages compared to traditional channels.
The number of eTransactions exceeded 3.7 million transactions completed through the various electronic channels of the eGovernment program.
Al Khaja pointed out that the continuous development of government systems and improvement procedures are among the priorities of the authority that supports achieving comprehensive digital transformation in the Kingdom.
The authority has worked on implementing development operations, represented in a comprehensive development of the national payment platform.
Hence, more new features and services been added to enable users completing their payment process at their convenience by saving card details securely in the app without the need to re-enter it in each process. In addition to providing multiple payment methods through the payment service such as ApplePay and the BenefitPay service.
The improvements showcase developing the self-service kiosk to update the ID card chip and reducing it from what it was before if the new feature allows pre-adding documents in the national portal bahrain.bh and then benefiting from the kiosk’s services.
It also has the features for upgrading eKey account to advance level through the kiosk and resetting password and updating details.
Al Khaja confirmed that the Authority has worked on implementing and launching projects and systems that support eTransformation in cooperation and coordination with government agencies, including the eAuthorization system, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) platform, the National System for Births and improvements to the Government Service Center Evaluation system (Taqyeem).
In regards to the most prominent eServices launched in 2022, the Ministry of Interior (MOI) came at the forefront with 20 eServices, i.e. nine eServices for the Nationality, Passports and Residency Affairs (NPRA), seven eServices for the Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA).
In addition, the MOI launched three services for the Customs Affairs, and an eService for the General Directorate of Crime Detection and Forensic Evidence.
The health sector saw the launch of six new eServices, Trade and Business sector four eServices, including two eServices for the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MOIC) and one eService for each of the Labor Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) and the Social Insurance Organization (SIO).
The housing and real estate sector saw the launch of four eServices, two services for each of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning and the Real Estate Regulatory Authority.
The justice sector benefited from the launch of 11 eServices including three eServices for the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Awqaf, and eight eServices for the Legislation and Legal Opinion Authority.
The education sector received the launch of four eServices affiliated with the Higher Education Council, while the labor and employment sector saw the launch of a new eService.