In line with government's Resolution No.02/NQ-CP on administrative procedure reform issued in January this year, Ba Ria-Vung Tau has identified digital transformation and smart-city development as top priorities. These tasks aim to enhance public governance and digital government capabilities and improve the locality's competitiveness and investment appeal.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau aspires to be in the top 15 cities and provinces for digital transformation

Digital transformation and smart urban development is a must

On April 17, Ba Ria-Vung Tau People's Committee announced that Chairman Nguyen Van Tho had signed a decision approving the province's digital transformation plan for 2024.

The plan outlines objectives to continue implementing tasks in accordance with Resolution 02-NQ/TU of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Party Committee on digital transformation and smart urban development linked to administrative reform. It prioritises resources to achieve key targets within national strategies for digital transformation of government, the economy, and societal development in the province.

The plan aims to leverage digital technology and data to improve and transform operational processes of state agencies, innovating service delivery methods with a focus on citizens and businesses. Ba Ria-Vung Tau's aspiration is to rank among the top 15 cities and provinces nationwide in terms of digital transformation progress.

At Ba Ria-Vung Tau Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DoNRE), digital transformation is considered a core mission, mandatory for every official to apply and implement. It is also a solution to improve land-related index accessibility for citizens and businesses.

According to Le Anh Tu, deputy director of the DoNRE, the department has essentially completed building the industry's database, connecting and sharing with other information systems. This contributes to increasing the productivity of civil servants and better meeting the needs of citizens and businesses.

In the near future, the DoNRE will integrate land data into the VNeID application and deploy robots for data analysis, supporting civil servants' work processes and serving state management of the natural resources sector at local and central levels.

"This is a mandatory task, not just for Ba Ria-Vung Tau, but to connect with the central government's data system, aiming to create urban, electronic, and digital governments, and implement digital transformation of the natural resources sector and the province. This is one of the three key tasks that the province must complete this term," Tu said.

Strengthening the citizens’ awareness of digital transform

Vu Hong Thuan, Vice Chairman of Vung Tau City People's Committee, said that digital transformation is a process of changing public awareness. Therefore, each official and leader must grasp and understand it for effective public communication and mobilisation.

"Besides leaders, officials and civil servants must also understand digital transformation. If they don't understand, how can citizens understand? We should simply understand that digital transformation is shifting from manual forms, even machine-based but still human-operated, to digitalisation," Thuan said.

Every citizen in Ba Ria-Vung Tau should participate in the digital transformation process

To achieve this goal, the city has implemented several models recently, such as 'Friday - Online Day' at the city's reception and result delivery department. This applies to two end-to-end online public services: providing construction planning information under district-level authorities in construction planning and architecture, and the procedure for declaring and appraising environmental protection declarations for wastewater in the tax policy area.

As the first locality in Vung Tau city to implement the 'cashless street' model, Ward 1 aims for each business and service on Ly Tu Trong street to conduct transactions using cashless payment solutions.

To achieve this goal, the ward is surveying and contacting payment partners (banks, credit organisations, payment intermediaries) to support and guide residents in promoting cashless transactions and payments.

Thai Thi Hong Minh, Vice Chairwoman of Ward 1 People's Committee, said that implementing the cashless street faced initial challenges. However, after advocacy and persuasion, most businesses signed commitments to implement and promote the initiative to residents.

"This street serves not only Ward 1 citizens but also residents citywide who shop here. While we haven't achieved 100 per cent cashless adoption, the ward has succeeded in gaining residents' consensus and cooperation, encouraging customers to avoid using cash," Minh said.

Implementing administrative reform and online document processing, Ward 5 People's Committee in Vung Tau city established 34 digital transformation teams across residential areas, ensuring at least one member per household can apply administrative procedures through digital platforms effectively.

Le Thanh Phong, Chairman of Ward 5 People's Committee, noted that as an area with many fishermen living and working primarily at sea, promoting online public administrative transactions faces difficulties due to ingrained habits.

However, to achieve this goal, digital transformation teams comprising committee officials, women's union members, youth, and police visit homes daily after office hours to encourage residents to adopt these practices.

"We formed a task force that goes door-to-door nightly to inform and guide residents on digital transformation and administrative reform. For instance, we explain how online public services and document submission reduce travel. Once people realise the initial benefits, they become advocates, helping the locality implement online services," Phong said.