Over one third of public services can be accessed online

As many as 199 public services of the existing over 500 can be accessed online. The e-Government Center has launched the common public services governmental portal www.servicii.gov.md. Thus, the people will no longer have to queue up at the office of an institution to receive information about the documents needed in a certain case, Info-Prim Neo reports. The portal is designed to facilitate interaction between people and the Government, e-Government Center executive director Stela Mocan said in the launch. The portal has two dimensions – the informational one and the dimension ensuring digital interaction with the state institutions, which will be launched soon. The portal now contains information about all the public services provided by the central public authorities. They are classified into four categories: services for people, services for businessmen, services for foreigners, and services for different situations. The services are accessible nonstop throughout the year. In the near future, the other about 300 services will also become available online. The portal is now in Romanian, but will also have Russian and English versions when the works are completed. The online payments module will be implemented in a period and the people will be able to pay taxes for different public services online. Prime Minister Vlad Filat said that Moldova is the first beneficiary country within the World Bank Governance e-Transformation Project. He stated that the over 500 services provided by the state institutions is an exaggerated number. “The pressure on the people is great. I would call this system archaic as it makes the people lose time and money,” said the Premier, adding many of the services will be removed as useless, while others will be externalized. Minister of Information and Communication Technology Pavel Filip said the IT plays a major role in the development of any country, with corruption and bureaucracy being the most serious obstacles. “The people must have access to public information and should know how to use it and have the necessary equipment,” he stated. The e-Services are instituted with the support of the US$20 million Governance e-Transformation Project.