IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The Yangon government is expanding its e-services to further ease business with various agencies and departments, a regional minister said.

Information about the different routes of the YBS and the buses serving the routes has been made available through its website; yangon.gov.mm, said U Zaw Aye Maung, Yangon Region Minister for Rakhine Ethnic Affairs.

The initiative will involve creating a master plan for e-governance in Myanmar and producing a review of information technology capacity in the country's academic institutions.

The deadline for applications was August 8 and this week the shortlisted companies will be asked to submit proposals within 20 days.

The initiative will involve creating a master plan for e-governance in Myanmar and reviewing information technology capacity in the country’s academic institutions.

The deadline for applications was August 8 and this week the shortlisted companies will be asked to submit proposals within 20 days.

The Forum discussed the role of the Internet and information and communications technologies (ICT) for business and economic development in Myanmar, and provided the correct regulation, its ability to reduce corruption in Government departments.

“Government departments and business corporations need to use ICT very much. It’s time consuming and inefficient to fill forms by hand. Besides, machines don't take bribes. Cases of corruption will reduce if we use ICT rightly," said Nay Phone Latt, Executive Director of Myanmar ICT for Development Organization (MIDO).

The Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) began rolling out an electronic birth registration system in Mon State on Thursday.

The system is part of the Mobile Birth and Death Registration (MBDR) project carried out by the government, UNICEF and Telenor Group.

The CSO utilises an electronic platform, known as the Vital Registration E-Platform, to document and archive birth and death records.

The Labour, Immigration and Population department has already digitised information of some 1.3 million citizens as part of the government’s modernisation process, Labour Minister U Thein Swe said.

U Thein Swe said the government will soon use digitised data in replacing the paper-based national registration cards (NRCs) with smart cards.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications has released a draft of its e-government master plan for 2020 on its website.

The master plan was drafted in 2014 with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank. Last year, the Department of Information Technology and Cyber Security at the ministry redrafted that master plan in cooperation with foreign experts.

The Burmese government is conducting a pilot project to substitute paper National Registration Cards with “smarter” digital identification cards in Naypyidaw and Mandalay.

The National Registration Cards, also known as citizenship scrutiny cards, are issued to Burmese citizens by the Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population’s national registration department.

So a master plan to revolutionize communication being rolled out to communicate with government departments in the Yangon region is raising a few eyebrows given its ambition.

The e-Yangon (electronic Yangon) masterplan will be implemented in three phases, U Min Oo, joint secretary of the e-Yangon steering committee and president at Yangon region computer professionals Association told the Mizzima Business Weekly in a telephone interview last week. The first phase is the “information level” to provide public access to information about Yangon region government ministries and their procedures, U Min Oo said.

An index of mobile phone penetration rates and smart phone usage remains low in Myanmar compared with other countries in the region.

The index shows Myanmar scores a mobile density rate of 105 per cent of mobile density and 80 per cent for smartphone usage, according to a Digital Myanmar report made by Telenor.

Chairman of the State Administration Council, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who overthrew the civilian government on 1 February 2021, said that Nay Pyi Taw will be shaped like green, clean and smart city.

The state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar quoted Min Aung Hlaing to be saying that “many opportunities will come out for the nation in shaping Nay Pyi Taw as a green city, clean city, and smart city. Hence, efforts must be made to the improvement of agriculture and livestock farming through better management and various ways.”

While the COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the global tourism industry, the popular resort town of Phuket is turning the crisis into an opportunity by remaking itself into a smart city and eco-friendly holiday destination.

Thanks to the Phuket City Development project, smart-flow technology will be used to collect tourist data and electric vehicles will be a fresh transportation alternative for vacationers in the near future. The recent advent of the innovative Banpu Next e-Ferry is another step in boosting awareness of sustainable tourism among local residents and marine tour operators.

Union Minister for Ministry of labour, Immigration and Population Thein Swe said that a policy has already drawn for issuing unique ID numbers without discrimination between citizens or non-citizens.

“After observing with over 40 companies, our ministry has laid down a policy. Rules are being drawn and we have formed township level committees in respective States/ Regions for implementing of the policy,” said Thein Swe, Union Minister for Ministry of labour, Immigration and Population.

Initially the project will be focused on young children and expectant mothers, according to a joint statement from the partners, but they plan to eventually expand the program to a wide variety of “telemedicine” projects.

Without any discrimination of citizenship or non-citizenship of Myanmar, Unique ID Numbers will be issued to all people living in Myanmar according to a coordination meeting on holding of CAS Report held at the Office of the ministry of immigration and manpower in Nay Pyi Taw on August 10.

The Union Minister also stressed the need to make the best use of mobile network which is expected to cover about 90 percent of the country’s population.

The work committee on implementing the e-Government held its first coordination meeting yesterday, discussing priorities for implementing the task.

Speaking at the meeting, U Thaung Tun, Union Minister for the Office of the Union Government, also the chairman of the working committee, stressed the need to speed up the measures to be taken periodically and to gain a quick win.

Having recently opened its doors to international engagement, the Myanmar is undertaking efforts to gain and maintain competitiveness at a global level. The Government has formed an inter-ministerial task force for appraisal of public service performance to improve public service delivery with a focus on streamlining bureaucratic processes and eliminating red tape.

Despite not much major cyber crime occurring in the country, the police force formed the IT unit in preparation for fight against such probability, the official said, calling on people, especially commercially-operating cyber cafes, to cooperate with the police to expose such crime by systematically registering internet users' contents without simple ignorance.

These ministries are those of commerce, agriculture and irrigation, labor, home affairs, culture, transport, industry, electric power and communications, posts and telegraphs, reports Xinhua news agency.

Myanmar’s ministry of tourism claims the e-visa could help to bring 5 million tourists a year by 2015.

That is likely to happen with or without the e-visa, which still remains cumbersome and slow, although considerably more convenient than visiting an embassy or consultate. It takes five days for an email confirmation to be sent to the applicant that a visit has been approved.