With the aim of going digital, Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), has announced that Dubai has become the world's first 100% paperless government. "Achieving this goal marks the beginning of a new phase in Dubai's journey to digitize life in every aspect. It is a journey rooted in innovation, creativity and a focus on the future."
“This achievement also reinforces Dubai’s position as the world’s leading digital capital, and a role model in designing government operations and services to enhance customer happiness,” added Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan.
The digitization of administrative procedures has helped save 1.3 billion Dirhams (350 million USD) and 14 million working hours in Dubai. - Photo: KHALEEJ TIMES
The Paperless Dubai Strategy has been implemented in five consecutive phases since 2018, each involving a different group of Dubai Government agencies. By the end of the fifth phase, the strategy had been fully implemented across all 45 government agencies in the emirate. These entities provide more than 1,800 digital services and more than 10,500 key transactions. Collaboration and integration between participating entities enabled the automation of processes and services provided to customers, cutting paper consumption by more than 336 million sheets.
Digitalization will also help deliver exceptional experiences to citizens through the DubaiNow app, which provides access to more than 130 smart city services in 12 key categories, such as helping people pay traffic fines, apply for residency or renew car registration quickly. The Crown Prince of Dubai said that the government of Dubai plans to implement advanced strategies to create and enhance digital life in Dubai over the next five decades.
According to Livemint, major countries like the US, UK, Europe and Canada have planned to digitize government operations on a larger scale, including government administrative procedures and citizen identities. However, there are still doubts about whether this will actually be a good thing, if the government faces a cyber attack when completely digitizing the platforms.
