The new government e-portal

With much fanfare, the minister of communications and information technology announced today the launching of the new e-government portal. According to the minister, the portal “will become the cornerstone for further launches, where the citizens will be able to receive government services electronically”.

The portal, as it is now, contains lots of information about what is needed for various transactions with the government. For example, it tells you what you need to do to get a special pardon from the king, what you need to set up a watermelon stand, and how to get a replacement passport. While this information is useful, we are still a long way from being able to submit requests on line. For example, check out this lame pdf file for filling out a passport request. You can’t fill it out on line, and so you need to print it out and fill it with a pen. Note the low quality of the scanning.

The site is cool and might save some effort by letting you know what you are getting into when you need something from the government. However, it is still a long way from justifying its huge price tag. Let’s hope that it develops up to the potential of its billing.