Together with the capital city of Hanoi and the southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City, Quang Ninh has become ready to connect with the national public service portal – which will be launched at the end of November 2019.

The northeastern province is one of the leading localities nationwide in building e-government and smart city. 

In 2015, Quang Ninh asked the Prime Minister for permission to pilot the operation of  public administration centres of the province and 14 localities. This proposal was approved by the Government leader.

In 2016, Quang Ninh began to implement a smart city model project, which applies advanced technologies to develop integrated database for all sectors.

In August 2019, Quang Ninh put into operation a smart city operation centre and the province’s public service portal. The centre connects the database of departments and agencies in all socio-economic and cultural fields. It also connects surveillance camera systems in the province, such as those at road intersections, the provincial public administrative centre and other major public facilities.

The province is working towards offering more online services such as individual e-tax payment and customs procedure completion.

Quang Ninh aims to build Ha Long city – which is home to the world natural heritage site of Ha Long Bay – into a smart city by the end of 2010.

The city will apply technologies in various sectors including health, education, governance, transport, finance-banking and taxation with an aim to provide convenient services to people and businesses.

Five smart-city projects have investment for the 2017-2020 period, including plans to upgrade lighting system, set up online tax collection system and technology application in urban management and improve tourism safety on Ha Long Bay.

According to the municipal People’s Committee, authorities have completed drawing up plans of these projects. Nearly 3,500 Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps – which help save electricity - have been installed on 18 key roads of the city, while a public lighting controlling centre has been built to supervise the operation of the city’s lighting system.

The city’s Taxation Department has also applied technology in managing electronic bills of businesses, households and individuals. A total 986 out of 3,607 local enterprises have used electronic bills. More than 3,000 units pay tax online.

Ha Long aims to apply electronic bills at 60 percent of local businesses by this year and all by 2020.

The provincial general hospital, Obstetrics and Paediatrics Hospital and Bai Chay Hospital are also using electronic health records.

Patients may use hospital-issued cards that show their personal information and health records to book medical check-up appointments.

Earlier, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had approved a master plan to develop the city into a world-class tourism and service hub by 2050. Under the plan, Ha Long will be converted into a civilised and friendly sea tourism city with synchronous and modern socio-economic infrastructure systems.

The national public service portal will be set up at a unique address to publicise information regarding administrative procedures and provide public services, ensuring inspection and assessment of individuals and organisations as well as accountability of State agencies.

The launch of the portal aims to improve the quality of public services by State agencies, largely by digitalising the process.
 
It is also expected to improve Vietnam’s performance in Online Services Index of the E-Government Development Index as rated by the United Nations (UN), and complete institutions for online public service supply, especially online administrative procedures.

The portal will offer at least 30 percent of essential public services of ministries, agencies and localities by 2030, which will increase 20 percent each year towards all public services at the third and fourth levels.

Particularly, with the Simple Single Sign On (SSO) platform, the portal is expected to have 500,000 accounts in 2019, one million in 2020 and at least eight million in 2030.