Reform begins with changing the mindset of officials.

With just a few steps to log into the National Public Service Portal via the VNeID application, Ms. Doan Thi Thanh Huong, residing in An Phu Dong ward, Ho Chi Minh City, completed the online passport application for her 5-year-old son. The processing progress was continuously updated on the system for her to monitor. More than a week later, the results were delivered to her home.

This story shows that digital transformation is no longer a distant concept, but has begun to touch people's lives, bringing greater convenience and transparency in handling many administrative procedures. Over the past period, Ho Chi Minh City has achieved many remarkable results in administrative reform and building a digital government. To date, 100% of administrative procedures have been moved to digital platforms, connecting 5.7 million digitized land registration data sets to the public service portal system for handling residence registration.

Hundreds of administrative procedures have been streamlined, shortened, and costs saved. Ho Chi Minh City also leads the country in connecting and cleaning specialized data, digitizing 15.4 million civil registration records and synchronizing identification numbers/citizen identification numbers for over 11.18 million social insurance participants, achieving a rate of 99.32%. The city has also implemented a series of administrative procedures regardless of administrative boundaries…

However, the initial results are not enough to create a breakthrough, because there is still information and national databases that are not being shared seamlessly. This leads to a situation where people submit applications for construction permits online, but the Department of Construction's system cannot automatically retrieve data from the national land database to verify the information.

Therefore, officials still have to require people to submit copies of land use right certificates, undermining the purpose of online application submission and causing inconvenience and wasting time and effort for both citizens and processing officials. Furthermore, regulations regarding the authority to handle "non-geographical" administrative procedures are unclear, forcing people to still go to the competent authority in their locality.

In the context of Ho Chi Minh City and the rest of the country implementing a two-tiered local government system, building a digital government, interconnecting and synchronizing data, and reusing digitized data in handling applications to save time and costs for citizens has become an urgent requirement. Furthermore, specific and consistent regulations are needed, tailored to the practical realities of a two-tiered local government system, concerning interconnected, comprehensive, online, and non-geographical administrative reforms.

In addition, more procedures need to be streamlined, but most importantly, officials must truly change their mindset. Citizens and businesses don't care about the number of technology applications deployed; they look at the processing time, the costs involved, and the service attitude to make their assessment. In other words, the trust and satisfaction of the people are the most important indicators reflecting the success of administrative reform and digital transformation.

Furthermore, administrative reform and digital transformation must be concrete actions to better serve the people and enhance the city's competitiveness. This requires strict administrative discipline, data interconnection, and an operational system driven by a service-oriented spirit. When officials consider the satisfaction of citizens and businesses as the measure of their work, Ho Chi Minh City can truly build and affirm its leading position in administrative reform, becoming a model of digital government for the whole country.

NGO BINH

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/cai-cach-bat-dau-tu-thay-doi-tu-duy-can-bo-post813852.html