The Hanoi Department of Information and Communications in collaboration with the Long Bien District People’s Committee today [January 12] held a ceremony to launch the city’s pilot digitalization models in selected agencies and districts.

Delegates at the launching ceremony on January 12. Photos: The Hanoi Times

“The move is part of the overall effort to realize the capital’s vision of becoming a smart city that is actively integrated into the network of smart cities in the region and of the world by 2030,” said the department's director, Nguyen Viet Hung, at the launch event.

The city has selected several units to implement the digitalization model, including the Department of Transport, the Department of Taxation, the Economic & Urban Newspaper, and the People's Committees of  Hoan Kiem, Long Bien, My Duc, Chuong My, Ba Vi, Ung Hoa, Me Linh, Dan Phuong, Thanh Oai, Phu Xuyen districts.

The goal is to experimentally apply selected models that fit the specific characteristics of each locality and unit, promote proactive and innovative activities, ensure effective deployment, and serve the needs of citizens and businesses in the area.

“Successful digital transformation models will later be replicated across the entire city,” said Hung.

At the launching ceremony, Deputy Chairman of the People's Committee Hanoi Ha Minh Hai stated that Hanoi, with a population of over 10 million, faces numerous challenges in implementing digital transformation.

“However, recent efforts, especially in 2022-2023, have shown positive changes with strong leadership from party committees, city authorities, and the active involvement of the entire political system, as well as support from the public and business community,” said Hai.

To support citizens and businesses in adopting online public services, Hai noted Hanoi has become the first locality in the country to issue a resolution regulating some online public services free of charge.

Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Ha Minh Hai (mid) and the city's senior officials during a visit to Long Bien District People's Committee.

"Important regulations have been proposed and enacted, such as ensuring the security of the city's information systems and determining a list of open data to serve citizens and businesses," Hai said.

The city's leadership has digitally signed all documents on the shared software system for managing documents and city operations. All public agencies in the city have implemented digital signatures, and the city's three-tier administrative procedures information systems are connected to the central government," he added.

In 2023, several successful digital transformation models were proposed and implemented as pilot projects, including cashless payments in Hoan Kiem district, smart payment roads in Son Tay Town, cashless transactions in schools and markets, and pension payments. Digital transformation models at the commune and ward levels are also being initiated in Hoai Duc, Long Bien, and other districts, departments, and agencies across the city.

Highlighting the theme of 2024 as "Governance Based on Digital Data," Hai hoped that government agencies, organizations, businesses, and citizens in Hanoi would work together to achieve digital transformation goals successfully.

The city's leaders inspect administrative procedures at the district.

The focus is on making services and digital applications easily accessible, safe, and efficient for people and businesses anywhere in the city, further contributing to the vision of Hanoi as a cultured and heritage city with eight characteristics of a global city, elegant and grand, harmoniously developed, peaceful and prosperous, with a service-minded government, dedicated businesses, trustworthy society, and happy citizens.

On the same day, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Long Bien District Vu Xuan Truong, representing participating units in the digital transformation models, announced the plan to implement digital transformation models in the district.

These include implementing software to manage Party members' activities, software for resolving public complaints and recommendations and providing digitized data such as civil registration, urban planning, and environmental resources.

Innovative approaches have been applied for the first time, such as digitally publicizing information on the list of administrative procedures that must be publicly available for data sharing between the district and wards.

Locals look at online public services provided at the district.

Streamlining and shortening information on the resolution of 324 administrative procedures under the district's jurisdiction were implemented to facilitate quick reference for citizens. Improvements were also made in collecting feedback on citizen satisfaction with the handling of administrative procedures, and a queuing system has been in place to save millions in investment costs.

Alongside these efforts, the district introduced a pre-appointment model with officials for citizens submitting documents online through the National Public Service Portal and the Hanoi e-Government Service Portal to encourage an increase in online applications. The district also shortened the processing time for administrative procedures by 20% and successfully piloted a level 2 data digitization identity verification system to authenticate transactions in administrative procedures.