HKETO - E-government in Hong Kong - Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Canada)

E-government in Hong Kong

Strategy

The Government promulgated in May 2001 the 2001 Digital 21 Strategy, which includes a comprehensive strategy on E-government. The E-government strategy includes:

setting up a dedicated E-government Co-ordination Office to drive and co-ordinate e-government initiatives;
setting a target for providing e-option for 90% of public services amenable to the electronic mode of service delivery by end 2003. By end of 2002, we are already providing an e-option for over 81% of such services;
proceeding with flagship E-government projects (G2C, G2B, G2E, G2G) which will bring significant benefits to Government and the community;
strengthening Government's internal information infrastructure to sustain the various E-government initiatives;
enhancing departmental capability to implement E-government initiatives through an IT development assessment study, designation of e-business coordinator within individual departments, formulating E-government progress reports, etc.; and
enhancing the skills of the management and staff in the civil service and providing the necessary tools for exploitation of E-government opportunities.

Where are we now?

Mobile phone penetration: 104% in 2003
Broadband reaches all commercial buildings and virtually all residential buildings
External telecommunications capacity: about 900 Gbps in 2003 (20-fold increase since 2000)
Household personal computer (PC) penetration: 68% in 2003 (50% in 2000)
Household Internet penetration: 60% in 2003 (36% in 2000)
Household penetration for broadband Internet service: 50% in 2003 (18% in 2000)
PC penetration in business sector: 55% in 2003 (52% in 2000)
Internet penetration in business sector: 48% in 2003 (37% in 2000)
Over 50% of businesses adopted some form of e-business (2003)
70% of Internet users had used e-government services, of which more than 60% rated e-government services as "very good" or "quite good"

Progress of implementation of initiatives in 2001 Strategy -

All sectors of the telecommunications market liberalized from 1 January 2003 to encourage competition and provision of services at affordable prices.
Four 3G licences issued in October 2001. 3G services rolled out in January 2004.
Class licence to regulate public wireless local area network services introduced in February 2003 to promote the development and usage of wireless services.
Among the first batch of economies in the world to open up the relevant frequency bands for IEEE 802.11 type of wireless services.
Amendments to the Electronic Transactions Ordinance introduced into our legislature in June 2003 to ensure that Hong Kong has an up-to-date legal framework for the conduct of e-business.
A non-statutory, not-for-profit corporation set up in 2001 to provide market-oriented Internet domain name registration services.
Awareness building programmes, technical support and advisory services, financial support, and training programmes provided to businesses to assist them in adopting IT to enhance efficiency and productivity.
The first three phases of the Cyberport completed in April 2002, February 2003 and January 2004 respectively to provide state-of-the-art IT, telecommunications and digital media facilities to create a strategic cluster of IT companies and to support and facilitate development of new technologies, applications, services and content.
Phase I of Science Park opened in June 2002, with a strong information industry cluster being built up.
HK$445 million provided from the ITF to projects for upgrading IT and e-business infrastructure in Hong Kong.
By end 2003, e-option available for 90% of the public services amenable to electronic mode of delivery.
Some 180 public services from over 50 Government departments and public agencies now available via the ESD Scheme.
By end 2003, over 80% of Government procurement tenders conducted through electronic means.
Specific joined-up and Government-wide projects launched/initiated, such as the Common Look and Feel Website Design, Business Entry Portal, property information hub and Integrated Criminal Justice System.
Professional IT training provided to students at all levels.
Admission of Mainland and overseas IT talents to ensure adequate supply of quality IT manpower.
Free IT awareness courses, IT Easy Link enquiry service, infotainment television programmes, IT promotion activities, free public computer facilities with Internet connection etc. to enhance IT awareness and promote wider use of IT in the community.
Multi-application smart identity card rolled out in June 2003, which can be used as a public library card and can store a digital certificate. It can also be used for automated immigration clearance at border control points by end 2004 and for driving licence functions in about 2006.
A high-speed link set up between local tertiary institutions and the Internet2 backbone in the US in 2002 for research and development on advanced and multi-media applications.

As on e-procurement, the Government has achieved 80% of Government tenders through electronic means by the end of 2003.

The average monthly page views of all the Government websites under the Government Information Centre portal www.info.gov.hk as well as the GovHK one-stop service portal www.gov.hk/en/residents increased from 86.7 million in 2002 to 155.5 million in 2003.

Besides the Electronic Tendering System (ETS) launched in April 2000 for online dissemination of government tender documents and submission of tender proposals, the Government Supplies Department (GSD) has also kick-started, in early 2002, a trial scheme for using electronic marketplaces operated by the private sector for procuring lower value purchases below HK$1.3 million each.

Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) Scheme

The Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) Scheme is our key E-government initiative. Since its launch in December 2000, it has become one of the most popular Government web sites in Hong Kong. Currently, the average number of monthly transactions has increased by some 40%, with the numher of hits a day averages some 2 million.
The ESD Scheme won the Stockholm Challenge Award 2001, an international annual IT award organized by the city of Stockholm, Sweden. There were altogether over 740 projects from 90�countries competing for 14 awards under seven categories. This one-stop portal, which provides integrated public and commercial services online in a customer-centric way, came first in the category of Public Services and Democracy due to its achievements in innovation, user need, benefits to the community, diversity of payment facilities and strong security measures.
Through the ESD Scheme, more than 140 types of public services of over 40 government bureaus, departments and agencies are now available online. We have recently launched the online booking of public sports and recreational facilities ?the online Leisure Link service. It allows users to book and pay for the rental of the facilities in one go. Compared with the telephone booking system, this has saved the public's one extra trip to the venue to make payment for their booking.

Other new services launched in the past few months include online booking of marriage dates, dissemination of census and statistical data, sale of government publications, and registration to sit for the Test of Advanced Proficiency in Putonghua and for Music Theory, etc. We plan to introduce registration service for more public examinations, sale of public examination publications and online search of cases of bankruptcy and compulsory winding-up of companies this year.
To further enhance the accessibility and reach of electronic public services, selected ESD services have also been made available through the mobile medium since June 2002, in addition to accessing through personal computers and public kiosks.

Multi-application smart ID card

To leverage Hong Kong's strengths in exploitation of enabling technologies, the Government has started rolling out a new generation of multi-application smart ID cards since 2003.
The Government has developed value-added applications for riding on the smart ID cards to provide more efficient and better quality services to the community. These applications, all at the voluntary choice of citizens, include: embedding of a free digital certificate (e-Cert); accessing driving licence-related functions; using as library card; and reserving capacity for electronic purse. Covering around 7 million people, Hong Kong will have the largest population in the world using smart ID card, which will further strengthen Hong Kong's image as a leading digital city in the globally connected world.