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Presentation by Mr. Alan Wong, Director of Information Technology
Services at the XIIth World Productivity Congress 2001 on
07 - 11 - 2001
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my great honour to be invited to speak at the World Productivity
Congress and to share with you what the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region (HKSAR) Government has done, and is doing, in building
an efficient e-government and an IT-savvy community.
Some historians have observed that every 200 years the world
experienced a revolutionary change. For example, in the 18th
Century, the first Industrial Revolution marked the transition
from an agricultural society to a modern industrial society.
Following the invention of the steam engine, mechanisation tremendously
increased our productivity, and then the railway networks greatly
expanded our horizons both geographically and culturally.
We are now experiencing the Information Revolution. In this
revolution, computer is our steam engine and the Internet is
our railway networks. By leveraging on the advances in Information
Technology (IT), many countries are changing into knowledge-based
communities where productivity is rising to unprecedented levels
in human history. Technology and knowledge are now the key success
factors.
The HKSAR Government and indeed the entire community of Hong
Kong fully recognise the importance of IT to our future. We
launched our first IT strategy -- the "Digital 21" IT strategy
in November 1998. In the past three years, we have substantially
enhanced our information infrastructure. We have also made significant
progress in the creation of a business environment conducive
to IT adoption in business, government and daily life.
In this connection, telecommunications market has been fully
liberalised. Now, we take pride in having a world class telecommunications
infrastructure, including an advanced broadband network which
covers practically all commercial buildings and over 95% of
households.
As regards mobile phones, the penetration rate is greater than
80% which is one of the world's highest. Around 60% of our households
have personal computers (PC), and nearly half of the population
are already Internet users.
To cope with technological changes and world e-commerce development,
we have launched a new "Digital 21" IT Strategy earlier this
year. The main aim is to promote the further development of
IT and e-commerce for the betterment of our living standard
and quality of life, and to further strengthen Hong Kong's position
as a leading digital city in the region.
One of the strategic areas of the new strategy is to implement
a comprehensive policy to build an efficient and effective e-Government.
The HKSAR Government is committed to leading by example in the
use of IT, both in conducting internal business operations and
in delivering public services to the community on an "anywhere,
anytime" basis.
The adoption of e-business solutions allows us to modernise
government operations, improve efficiency and optimise the use
of limited resources. We can also improve the quality of the
services provided to the community, move away from the conventional
approach of service delivery and break down bureaucracy between
departments to facilitate the provision of more customer-oriented,
value-added and user-friendly one-stop government services.
Clear targets have been set for building an efficient and effective
E-government. We have set a target for providing e-option (the
option to obtain the service through electronic means) for 90%
of the public services which are amenable to the electronic
mode of service delivery by end-2003. At present, 65% of such
services already have an e-option.
We will continue to roll out new services under the Electronic
Service Delivery Scheme (ESD). The new services to be rolled
out include booking of sports and leisure facilities, online
sales of Government publications, registration to sit for public
examinations and booking of marriage dates.
We will also proceed with flagship E-government projects which
can bring significant benefits to the Government and the community.
These projects fall into four categories:
Government-to-Citizen (G2C) -- the Electronic Service Delivery
Scheme that I have just mentioned is an example of this category.
Government-to-Business (G2B) -- we are actively driving
e-procurement initiatives. We have already introduced one
of the world’s first Electronic Tendering System to
issue tenders and receive bids through the Internet. The next
target is to develop an electronic marketplace for procurement
transactions for low-valued purchases.
Government-to-Employee (G2E) -- We have rolled out projects
such as electronic leave application and processing system
to reduce administrative costs and foster an E-government
culture within the civil service.
Government-to-Government (G2G) -- We are implementing a
phased programme for adopting inter-departmental and intra-departmental
electronic transactions which include putting the process
to prepare the annual estimates online, developing systems
to allow departments to place orders online for common store
items and for printing government publications.
To assist government departments in enhancing their readiness
and capability to develop E-government, we operate a wide
range of central infrastructural support services and facilities.
We are planning a number of enhancements to the Government's
IT infrastructure which include improving the accessibility
to computer facilities in the civil service, upgrading to
broadband connections to the Government backbone network,
and establishing an interoperability framework to support
future E-government applications.
We have completed the Government Office Automation (GOA) programme
which is aimed at improving electronic communication within
the Government. The programme covers some 10,000 users and
its extension is being implemented to provide office automation
as well as Internet and Government Intranet access to over
15,000 additional officers so as to support the development
of an E-government.
We have set up the Central Cyber Government Office (CCGO),
a Government Intranet service providing a wealth of information
and electronic services. New services will be gradually introduced
with the aim of developing a webcasting station, information
centre and e-business platform within the Government.
Together with the implementation of a system for the exchange
of internal confidential mail, and the adoption of Software
Asset Management and updated information security management
practices, we aim to build a solid and comprehensive information
infrastructure for the wider adoption of electronic communication
and transactions within the Government.
To steer and coordinate the overall implementation of the
E-government initiatives, we established in last August a
dedicated E-government Coordination Office (EGCO). The office
performs the following functions: initiate necessary cultural
changes within the Government; coordinate different agencies;
address inter-departmental issues; and explore innovative
implementation models for E-government projects. Departments
are also required to designate senior officers to be responsible
for E-government development in their own organisation so
as to enhance the coordination work, and to draw up action
plans to facilitate monitoring and implementation of departmental
E-government initiatives.
To speed up the delivery of IT solutions in the Government,
enlarge the delivery capacity and to foster the development
of IT industry locally, we have adopted a vigorous outsourcing
strategy in the delivery of Government's IT projects. We have
achieved our target of outsourcing two-thirds of new government
IT projects; in the current fiscal year over 80% of new projects
amounting to about HK$1.3 billion will be outsourced. We have
also started outsourcing IT application maintenance activities.
To widen the choices of contractors and to promote more healthy
competition by encouraging more participation from the industry,
we will replace our existing Information Technology Services
Agreement (ITSA) with the new Information Technology Professional
Services Arrangement (ITPSA). The new ITPSA aims to engage
as many as 26 contractors under four categories of IT professional
services including general system development and maintenance,
web publishing, office systems and network implementation,
and IT security. Government departments can make use of this
means to quickly acquire necessary services for their E-government
projects.
To encourage more IT suppliers to participate in the government's
IT projects, we have established an Information Technology
Solution Centre (ITSC). It serves as a focal point for departments
to access IT information and news, and for our business partners
to showcase their IT solutions to government departments.
We will adopt various measures to alleviate the financial
burden of suppliers and to enhance the accessibility of the
information relating to the government IT projects. For example,
contract deposit or performance bond, which until recently
had been required in IT projects, have been waived as far
as possible. The information related to government IT projects
is also posted regularly on the Internet.
By taking a lead in the use of IT, we aim to encourage the
wider adoption of IT in the community which is another strategic
area in our Digital 21 IT Strategy.
The objective of this strategic area is to ensure that the
entire community will benefit from the development of IT in
enhancing our quality of life. We will encourage the public
at large to embrace, develop and use IT and we will specifically
target people who have fewer opportunities to access IT facilities
in their daily lives, e.g., senior citizens, housewives and
people with disabilities.
We launched the "IT Hong Kong" campaign in September 2000
which comprises a series of promotional activities, including
a territory-wide IT awareness programme. An "IT Hong Kong"
web site (www.ithk.gov.hk)
has also been set up to serve as a platform for disseminating
information to the public on IT and related activities.
We have considerably improved public access to IT facilities
and the Internet by providing free public computer facilities
in community centres/halls, public libraries, district offices,
post offices and non-governmental organisations.
We will also ensure that web sites and electronically generated
content are made accessible to people with disabilities. To
this end, we have drawn up and promulgated a set of guidelines
in collaboration with the IT industry based on prevailing
international standards. All government web sites will be
accessible for the visually impaired persons in 2002. We will
also encourage the private sector to adopt the guidelines
through public education and promotion.
In the education sector, all schools are now linked to the
Internet and over 90% of them are connected by leased lines
or broadband. We will also enhance the IT competency of teachers.
As a target, 25% of the school curriculum will be supported
by IT in the near future.
The Information Revolution has already given us the tools
to build an efficient and effective E-government and an IT-savvy
community. Hong Kong will continue to seize this opportunity
to turn our vision as a digital city in the new millennium
into reality through our entrepreneurship, versatility and
determination.
Thank you.
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