Singapore will dramatically expand its use of technology to
build closer ties with citizens, part of a S$2 billion (CDN$1.4
billion) plan to take e-government to the next level, officials
announced Tuesday.
The five-year plan, called iGov2010, will extend Singapore's
existing e-government programs, which have made most services and
information accessible over the Internet. These programs have
changed how the government and citizens interact. Over the last
year, 86 percent of Singaporeans who dealt with the government did
so electronically, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
(IDA) and Ministry of Finance said.
The iGov2010 plan will expand Singapore's progress in this area.
Over the next five years, the government plans to integrate its
back-end systems as part of an effort to make e-government services
easier to use.
"We have to move beyond bundling information and services at the
front end, to re-engineering processes at the back end," said
Raymond Lim, the minister for the prime minister's office and
second minister for finance and foreign affairs, in a transcript of
his remarks.
This will break down the barriers that exist between different
government agencies, allowing users to find all of the information
they require and complete all necessary transactions for a service
without having to visit different Web sites, IDA said.
As part of the iGov2010 plan, the Singaporean government plans
to improve online access for citizens that don't have Internet
access or require assistance using e-government services. Officials
will expand the number of CitizenConnect centers, which offer free
Internet access and assistance for users, from five to 25 over the
next five years, Lim said.
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