E Government Sms

175 recommendations in interim flood report

The report makes 175 recommendations, with a focus on changes which can be made before the next wet season. Of the recommendations, 104 apply to the State Government, 65 to local councils and six federally.

Wivenhoe Dam

The management of Wivenhoe Dam, north-west of Brisbane, has been a key focus of the Inquiry's public hearings. Today's report says if the weather bureau makes similar predictions this year, the dam's supply level should be reduced to 75 per cent. The report also says all staff and engineers who may be involved in flood operations should be given formal training exercises on the full range of possible operating situations.

Ms Bligh says the report found that in the lead-up to Christmas there was some confusion and lack of clarity between agencies about the management of Wivenhoe dam, and there needed to be significant improvement. During the hearings Justice Catherine Holmes described the dam's manual as "a bit of a mess", and today's report says it should be immediately reviewed.

The report found there was a failure to comply with the Wivenhoe manual by the engineers in control of the dam. The inquiry heard the engineers used forecast rain models to guide their decisions. The commission found there had been a technical breach of the manual, but qualified this by pointing out that the engineers operated the dam with the honest belief that the manual did not compel their choice of strategy.

"The finding does not therefore necessarily reflect upon the flood engineers operating the dams, nor can any particular consequence flowing from the breach be identified," the report said.

Toowoomba

The flash flooding which hit Toowoomba on January 10 saw streams and creeks turned into raging torrents through the town, and took lives as people were swept away in cars.

Mayor of the Toowoomba Regional Council Peter Taylor says the report shows it would have been impossible to warn the public of what was to come, and issuing a broad warning could have put more people in danger.

"In this case a severe flash occurred, and the report says it clearly was not a situation where any agency could have warned the public of what was to come. It happened so quickly that to warn people, to get people out of their offices and out of the shopping centres into the streets, would have put more people at risk."

Cr Taylor says he has no misgivings about communication between the council and the Bureau of Meteorology.

eGovernment Authority launches mobile payment services awareness ...

The eGovernment Authority has recently launched summer awareness campaign at the Bahrain City Center that will continue until August 2011 to facilitate public online payment for government transactions through the mobile portal (www.bahrain.bh/mobile), which is a mobile version of the National eGovernment Portal and one of the main eService delivery channels, namely: the National eGovernment Portal (Bahrain.bh), eServices Centers, Self-service kiosks, as well the National Contact Centre 80008001.

This comes in line with its initiatives in raising awareness and promoting ePayment facilities.

“The Kingdom of Bahrain enjoys a high mobile penetration rate among most age groups,” stated Mr. Mohammed Ziad Asfour, Assistant Director, Marketing and Awareness Directorate at eGovernment Authority.

“Accordingly, the mobile phone has zoomed as an important and vital channel to access services, including eGovernment services. No doubt the mobile payment available via the mobile portal has contributed significantly to facilitate the process of paying fees and emerged as a modern, simple and secure means that can be utilized at any time and from anywhere,” he added.

Notably, the eGovernment Mobile Portal provides 54 eService, including 8 e-payment services of government transactions, namely: Pre-Employment Health Check-up Appointment, Payment of Traffic Contraventions, Driving License Renewal, Renewal and Payment of Mailboxes, Issuing Copies of Student Certificates, Public Libraries Services, Payment of Criminal Orders and Student Exam Results. Users can also pay through the WAP or service short code to be sent as short SMS, e.g. (ELCQ CPRNoAccountNo and then send to 4949 for Batelco users, 88311 for Zain users; and very soon VIVA number will be dedicated for VIVA subscribers.

As for the campaign, Mr. Asfour added, “The aim of this campaign is to encourage the public to use the e-payment of fees and contraventions through the mobile, familiarize them with the registration process for this state-of-the-art mode of payment while highlighting the benefits in term of saving a lot of time and effort. Moreover, to encourage registration process through the mobile payment service, a number of valuable prizes are available for subscribers who sign up for this service at the eGovernment Authority’s 15 eService centers spread in various regions of the Kingdom and the eGovernment Authority stand at Bahrain City Centre ground floor.

4th International Conference on e-Government

Rethinking e-government services, user-centred approaches

Norway

2nd european conference on e-government, St. Catherine's College Oxford, United Kingdom, 1-2 October 2002

Growth and Success Through E-Governance, Best Practice from Cyprus and Malta