Ha Long applies mobile app to boost smart city building

Quang Ninh (VNA) – To boost digital transformation and smart city building, Ha Long city in northern Quang Ninh province has put into use the Ha Long Smart app to serve people and businesses.

Via this app, part of the intelligent operations centre (IOC) in Ha Long, people can easily report problems to authorities, access online public services, and seek routes to agency and departmental headquarters, tourist attractions, hotels, schools, healthcare facilities and pharmacies, while staying up-to-date with information from local administrations and media outlets.

The app, launched in February this year, also provides contact details for health stations from grassroots to provincial levels so people can access COVID-19 treatment advice, local authorities said.

All public opinions given via Ha Long Smart will be sent to the IOC and then to the agencies in charge of the issues mentioned for settlement. Settlement results will also be publicised on the app so that people can check and assess state agencies’ performance.

Authorities said the app will help increase state agencies’ interaction with locals, thereby contributing to a civilised, modern, open, transparent, and friendly living environment in the city.

So far, Ha Long Smart has recorded more than 33,000 downloads and over 800 accounts.

The city authorities noted they will add more functions to the app in order to further connect people with one another and the administration.

Quang Ninh province is working to strongly develop the digital economy and establish itself as a role model in comprehensive digital transformation at a provincial level.

The northeastern province looks to strongly promote the digital economy so as to fuel development, create new growth values for local socio-economic areas, and gradually turn the digital economy into a key player in the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth. It is also planning to build a safe and humane digital society based on the pillars of nature, culture, and people.

It is striving to become one of the best localities in cyber safety and security nationwide and take the lead in terms of digital transformation among agencies of the Party, State, Vietnam Fatherland Front, and socio-political organisations.

Among the targets for 2030, Quang Ninh hopes the digital economy will account for about 30 percent of GDRP and labour productivity increase by over 13 percent annually.

Besides, it targets 100 percent of the papers at the district and communal levels be handled digitally, 99 percent of the local adults having e-payment accounts, and 90 percent of state agencies’ monitoring and examination activities be conducted in the digital environment and their information systems. It also eyes at least 500 digital businesses by 2030.

To that end, it has set up different tasks and measures, including enhancing Party Committees’ leadership over the issue, improving the state management’s effectiveness, building mechanisms and policies for supporting enterprises to produce and apply digital technology, and cooperating with capable and experienced businesses to develop IT and telecoms infrastructure and personnel.

In addition, more support mechanisms will be devised to help local enterprises and households advertise their products on prestigious domestic and foreign e-commerce platforms.

Quang Ninh will also step up developing digital data and platforms, ensuring information security in tandem with safeguarding cyber sovereignty, and providing more online public services for people and businesses.

The provincial Party Committee on February 5 this year issued a resolution on comprehensive digital transformation by 2025 with a vision to 2030.

Quang Ninh ranked fourth among the country's 63 provinces and cities in the 2020 Digital Transformation Index rankings, released last October, following Da Nang city and the provinces of Thua Thien-Hue and Bac Ninh.

In June 2020, the Prime Minister approved the national digital transformation programme by 2025 with a vision to 2030, which targets that by 2025, the digital economy will make up 20 percent of Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) and at least 10 percent of each sector./.