Residents can each open a single account which must be in their own name when applying at the government's web site. The service is open to all city residents, including resident expatriates. The email platform is only in Chinese at the moment, but an English version is in the works.
The Shanghai authorities will send personalised information to the email boxes, including payment records for medical insurance, the city's pension and housing funds and unemployment insurance. It will also send payment notices for public utility bills.
Government officials hope the email boxes will become an essential and efficient communication tool between authorities and local residents in the near future.
"It might have taken much less time for the government to track down potential SARS patients last year if this e-mail box system had been established," said Zhang Jianming, Director of the City's Informatisation Commission. "We won't only rely on the traditional media to publicise emergency information as we can also send email to concerned people as soon as possible."
As it becomes increasingly easy for Chinese people to move to different cities, the new email system may also become the only way to stay in touch with mobile residents.
Quelle: Public Sector Technology & Management, 26.07.2004
