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Following is the speech by the Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting, Mrs Carrie Yau, at the NCS Public Sector Seminar today (May 31):

"Development of Electronic Government - A Hong Kong Perspective"

Mr Lee, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my great pleasure to be here today to share my thoughts with you on the development of E-government. The theme of today's seminar "Enabling E-Government" is timely as the Hong Kong Government has recently promulgated a comprehensive E-government Strategy to keep us at the forefront of international IT development. I will talk about the main focus of our strategy and the enabling factors to drive its implementation.

Earlier this month, we published the 2001 Digital 21 Strategy : Connecting the World. The strategy aims to build on the solid foundations we have established for leveraging IT so as to position Hong Kong as a leading e-business community and a premier digital city. We have included in the new strategy a special key result area for developing E-government. It signifies the Government's firm commitment to lead by example in the adoption of e-business, both in conducting internal business operations and in delivering public services to the businesses and the community on an "anywhere anytime" basis.

We have three main policy drivers for developing E-government. Firstly, the wide use of IT within the Government leads to substantial financial benefits, not only to the Government itself but also to the community. Through the electronic mode of service delivery, the community can obtain public services online through one-stop, user-friendly and interactive service interface. They no longer have to queue in line physically in Government offices between nine to five. The public can obtain Government services at their own place, and at their own pace. The social cost that the community can save is enormous.

And it is also more economical and cost-effective for Government to meet the service demand through electronic means. As a simple illustration, the administrative cost for handling Government payment collection by post is 60% of that for handling payment collection over cash counter, but the unit cost for electronic debit payment is only 15% of that of conventional counter payment. There are thus huge potentials for reduction in operating cost.

The second driver is that E-government enables us to provide more efficient and better quality public services, enhance customer satisfaction and better serve the community. With the use of advanced technology, we can streamline our procedure, re-engineer backend process and cut processing time. In short, we would be in a much stronger position to meet the ever-increasing demand and aspirations of the community in the Information Age.

The third driver of our E-government policy is to enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong in the digital economy. Through the development of E-government, we can take the lead in adopting e-business, thus setting a good example for the private sector to follow and creating a favourable environment for e-business to flourish. This will help drive the development of Hong Kong as an e-business hub in the Asia-Pacific region, sharpen our overall competitiveness in the international arena and provide the catalyst to stimulate our future economic growth.

The theme today is "Enabling E-Government". There are indeed several key enabling factors for driving E-government development. All these factors are important components of our strategy. I will go through them briefly.

Setting E-Government Targets

Setting E-government targets can reflect top level commitment and provide a clear steer for us to move forward. It will also give us milestones against which to manage progress. So we have set E-government targets in our Digital 21 Strategy. One example is setting a target to increase the percentage of public services with e-option to 90% by end 2003. Through the efforts we have made so far and the huge investment we have already put into E-government, 65% of our public services (e.g. submission of tax return, renewal of driving licence, registration as a voter, etc.) which are amenable to the electronic mode of delivery now already provide e-options under our Electronic Service Delivery Scheme and other Government web sites. Over 100 000 visitors browse the Electronic Service Delivery web site everyday and the average hit rate per day is over a million. We will continue to roll out new services this year under the scheme, like booking of sports and leisure facilities, online sales of Government publications, registration to sit for public examinations, real-time traffic video services, and also for the marrying couples, booking of marriage dates, so that they no longer have to queue outside our Marriage Registry, sometimes for days, in order to secure the booking for some auspicious dates on the Chinese calendar. The 90% target by 2003 is therefore very ambitious but should be achievable. It will cover not only existing services but also any new services to be introduced in future.

Driving Flagship Projects

We will also identify and drive the implementation of flagship E-government projects which can bring significant benefits to the Government and the community. This will have the modelling effect in spreading the E-government message. Flagship projects fall into four categories : Government-to-Citizen (G2C), Government-to-Business (G2B), Government-to-Employee (G2E) and Government-to-Government (G2G).

In respect of G2C projects, we will increase the momentum to put public services online. The development of the Electronic Service Delivery Scheme which I have earlier mentioned has paved the way for us to move forward. It is also probably the first ever bilingual portal in the world which offers both public and private sector e-services, thus providing a comprehensive service package which meets the everyday needs of the community. Separately, apart from investing over US$620 million in driving IT in education in primary and secondary schools, we have already spent US$280 million in bridging digital divide in the community to ensure that all sectors of the community will have the capability to make use of the online G2C services and to benefit from them. To ensure socially disadvantaged groups have free access to the internet, computers are installed in community halls, libraries etc. Special grants are made for poor students to obtain portable computers. Training programmes targeted at senior citizens and housewives are also provided through partnership with the private sector.

As regards G2B projects, we will actively drive e-procurement initiatives and the development of an electronic marketplace for Government purchases. We have introduced one of the world's first Electronic Tendering System which allows us to issue tenders and receive bids securely through the Internet. To drive us forward, we have also set the target to carry out 80% of Government procurement tenders through electronic means by end 2003. As a major user and buyer, we will be able to stimulate and drive our business partners and suppliers to adopt e-business.

For G2E projects, we will embark on initiatives that will facilitate the management of the civil service and our internal communication with staff. One pilot project is to make our leave application and processing system paperless. As regards G2G transactions which refer to inter- as well as intra-departmental operations, a key flagship project to drive this year is to put the whole process to prepare our Annual Estimates online. This will have an impact on all our departments, with no exception, and will drive them to ride on the wave of e-revolution.

Enhancing Departmental E-readiness

We will assist our departments to enhance their readiness and capability to develop E-government. All departments are now linked up through our US$60 million Government Office Automation programme and electronic mail is gradually replacing paper correspondence as the main mode of communication within the Government. We will be spending another US$20 million to roll out a Confidential Mail System to all departments by April 2002 so that we can securely exchange confidential information electronically. In total, we have earmarked US$200 million for capital expenditure within the current financial year to enhance the e-readiness and capability of our departments.

We will also invite departments to designate senior officers to be responsible for E-government development in their own organisations so as to enhance coordination work. Departments will also have to draw up action plans to facilitate monitoring and implementation of departmental E-government initiatives which will contribute towards the delivery of the overall E-government target of providing e-option for 90% of public services by end 2003.

Training

Training and staffing development are another crucial part of the E-Government strategy to promote an e-enabled culture in the civil service. We would organise training and development programmes to enhance civil service awareness at all levels so that our colleagues are empowered and adequately equipped to exploit E-government opportunities.

Institutional Arrangements

In line with the practice of many leading E-government economies, we need to put in place an effective mechanism to steer and coordinate the overall implementation of the E-government strategy and the delivery of the targets set. I will set up an E-Government Coordination Office in my Bureau to provide a focal point to coordinate E-government initiatives within the Government. The Coordination Office will have the mission to initiate necessary cultural changes within the Government for championing the E-government agenda, coordinate different agencies, address inter-departmental issues arising from the implementation of cross-departmental projects and explore innovative implementation models for E-government projects. A senior policy officer will be appointed as the E-Government Coordinator to head the office. The officer will report directly to me in driving the E-government strategy.

Concerted Efforts

Developing E-government requires the commitment of the whole Government. Top management drive and support are crucial. E-government is not only about technology. It involves a wide discipline of business deliberations and decisions. As policy makers and administrators, we must be fully prepared to meet these challenges.

But Government efforts alone cannot turn our E-government vision into reality. We need co-operation and collaboration with the industry and the community to jointly drive the strategy. We need the support of the industry in undertaking E-government projects which we will actively outsource to speed up implementation. The public, who are the users of our services, should also actively embrace the use of IT and fully utilise the e-options we have provided. We look forward to you as our partners. Only with such concerted efforts would we be able to forge ahead in building E-government.

Finally, I wish to thank the National Computer Systems in organising this seminar in Hong Kong. I am sure we will all gain useful insights on how to enable e-government from the seminar. I wish today's event every success.

END/Thursday, May 31, 2001

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