keralamonitor.com

Dubai e-Government Director urges Arab Governments to facilitate

e-services

Conference highlights alternate ways of dealing between government and private enterprises

June3, 2002

Salem Al-Shair Director e-Services, Dubai e-Government today (Monday, June 3, 2002) called upon Arab governments to make a concerted move towards offering a variety of electronic services to their citizens which would guarantee a smooth transition to e-government. Speaking at the e-Jordan Conference currently being held in Amman, Al Shair emphasized the need to transform existing means of communication between the government and citizens to more electronic methods in order to ensure speedy and efficient delivery of services. The e-Jordan Conference is being organized by MBIT in association with the Faculty of Information technology at Amman University, and the Arena Group as a part of the increased focus on e-solutions and will continue till June 5, 2002.

Al-Shair, who was invited to participate in the opening session of the conference, detailed the Dubai e-Government experience in his presentation entitled, "Delivering Customer Centric Services Through Efficient Use of Technology". He highlighted the concept behind Dubai e-Government and shared the progress made in its implementation with technology and educational experts and decision makers of the Jordanian government.

"The increased penetration of the Internet in the region has made it necessary for government and private sector organizations to automate their systems and provide more services via the web. In this fast paced information era, it is imperative that government departments invest in modern technological infrastructures and contemporary communication strategies in order to keep pace with the development in the developed world and compete with them on their own terms," said Al-Shair. "The e-Jordan Conference has provided an ideal platform for showcasing the targets and goals of Dubai e-Government. We have traveled a long way since we went live in October 2001 and it has been a learning experience all the way. We are happy to share with our Jordanian friends the various challenges that we faced and the innovative solutions that we have devised. This is expected to be a rewarding forum as the participants get to learn from each other's successes and gain new insights in keeping pace with the New Economy."

Al Shair's presentation provided glimpses into the Dubai e-Government project and explained how Dubai had been pursuing its goals to provide essential government services through electronic means. Al-Shair told the conference how Dubai, under the directions of H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister, was going ahead with its project to re-invent the government as a key manifestation of Dubai's desire to become a leading hub in the New Economy. The whole aim, Al Shair said, was to make all Government processes and services compatible with the New Economy, with the ultimate aim of simplifying the government-public transactions. "The vision of Dubai e-Government is to ease the lives of customers interacting with the government and contribute in establishing Dubai as a leading economic hub," Al Shair added.

The e-Jordan Conference featured experts from different parts of the world as well as the Middle East. Its scope was to highlight altered ways of dealing between government and private enterprises and the need for a new set of responsibilities for the executive, legislature and the citizenry. The conference focused a great deal on e-Governance, e-commerce and e-learning, through speakers drawn from the different countries and United Nations' bodies.

Among the other personalities who spoke at the opening ceremony were Dr. Fawaz Zu'bi, Minister of Information & Communication Technology in Jordan, Talal Abu Ghazaleh, United Nations Information & Communication Technical Task Force (UN ICT TF), Pierre Mattei, CEO, Jordan Telecom and Prof. Amin Mahmoud, president, Al Ahliyya Amman University, Jordan.

Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited finances Sound: Crisil

Mumbai; The "AA" (pronounced 'double A') rating assigned to the outstanding bond issues of Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO) has been reaffirmed. The "FAA+" (pronounced 'F double A plus') rating assigned to the fixed deposits programme has also been reaffirmed.

The rating is essentially based upon the benefits derived by HUDCO from its 100% government of India (GoI) ownership. The rating also reflects the institution's public policy role as the nodal agency for financing and developing the housing and urban infrastructure projects in the country, apart from its comfortable resource raising capabilities. These factors are partly offset by its large overdues and the weakening credit quality of state governments that have guaranteed the bulk of HUDCO's loan portfolio. HUDCO's financial profile is characterised by low capital adequacy and low profitability. CRISIL expects equity infusion from the government to continue at current levels. HUDCO's ability to reduce overdues and improve its collection efficiency continues to be a key rating sensitivity.

HUDCO is wholly owned by the GoI and helps the government fulfil its social objective of providing housing to the economically weaker sections and low income groups of society. As at March 31, 2001, of the institution's total advances of Rs.159.18 billion, approximately 61% was to the housing sector (including 9% of HUDCO Niwas retail housing finance) and the balance was to the urban infrastructure sector. The institution reported a profit after tax of Rs. 0.88 billion (provisional figures) for FY 2001-02 as against Rs. 1.06 billion for FY 2000-01. (keralamonitor.com)