The Mayoral office of Panama announced that this month it will begin the first phase of digitizating processes for admissions, reviews, registrations and approvals of plans of works to be developed in the district capital.
The first phase involves testing the installed technology systems, begining with the entry into the system of three urban development projects that will serve to verify the operation of the platform, then a report will be made and if necessary, adjustments will be made. It is expected that in a year the process for approving plans will be completely systematized in order to reduce the time for gaining authorization from 8 months to 45 days.
The implementation of a new electronic state correspondence platform for the country will save $3 million annually in paper, time and operating costs.
From a press release by the National Authority for Government Innovation (AIG):
The Cabinet Council has approved a special appropriation in the amount of $1.5 million in favor of the National Authority for Government Innovation (AIG), in order to promote an electronic state correspondence system.
The fact that companies from the sector have invested about $250 million to settle in the country, is characterising Panama as a strategic center for data storage in America.
According to Eduardo Jaen, head of the Panamanian Authority for Government Innovation (AIG), the majority of these firms offer their services to banking and telephony companies in Central America and the Caribbean, and "Panama has found a safe haven for their data ".
Investments by Panama are resulting in it being positioned next to Chile in the 2013 Information Technology ranking by the World Economic Forum.
The availability of free internet nationwide in 'infoplazas', the provision of computers with Internet access to schools and the implementation of e-government, has allowed Panama to advance its use of new technologies in Latin America.
The "Paperless Panama" project, worth $25 million, will be put out to tender on Thursday August 4.
Eduardo Jaen, manager of the Government Innovation Authority, said that they will be contracting out the first stage of the project, worth $12.5 million, adding that the award will go to the bidder with the lowest price.
The initiative seeks to create business systems that will interconnect all state databases, simplifying procedures and avoiding the need for citizens to provide documents that already exist in public databases.
The company Huawei, from the telecommunication sector, together with authorities from the government have signed a cooperation agreement to accelerate Panama's modernization.
The agreement includes items seeking to provide training and technical skills in areas such as data networks, digital switching systems and optical access networks. This will help modernize public management of the country.
Scheduled to launch in 2012, the program will enable electronic exchange of information among state institutions and improve services for users.
According to Eduardo Jaen, administrator of the Government Innovation Authority, there is an analysis being made at institutions with most transactions, the Comptroller General's Office and the Ministries of Economy and Finance, Social Development, Education and Health.
The tender is for the supply and implementation of a comprehensive software solution for the accusatory penal system.
Purchase, supply and implementation services include the installation of the initial stage in the second judicial district which includes the provinces of Veraguas and Cocle.
The Ministry of Economy and the Authority for Digital Innovation signed an agreement to promote the project.
The agreement provides for the MEF to execute initiatives to enable digitization of processes and electronic exchange of information between state institutions, in order to increase productivity, improve quality of service to users, reduce bureaucracy, provide total governance transparency and reduce administrative costs.
From yesterday the country increased the connection speed of the National Internet Network (RNI in Spanish) to one megabyte.
The director of the government's innovation authority (AIG in Spanish), Pablo Ruidíaz, stated that the increase in connection speed does not add any costs to the original project.
Pa-digital.com.pa reports comments from the director: "All users of the network at any of the 661 access points located in Panama's 22 cities will benefit".
The government will invest in Voice over Internet, in order to modernize telecommunications at state entities.
Currently in the stage of analysis, the project could be ready for the end of this year, reported Eduardo Jaén, Secretary of Government Innovation.
He added: "we are analyzing proposals by several communications companies interested in the project, such as Cable & Wireless and Telecarrier", reported Pa-digital.com.pa.
Panama's main cities will enjoy free wireless internet access, within the first 100 days of the new government.
With the goal of having "border to border" coverage, Martinelli's government will initially invest $250.000 to service 10 cities, with coverage in parks, touristic sites, schools, libraries, universities, hospitals and health centers.
"Panama is currently the most advanced Central American country in Information and Communication Technologies, and, in accordance to the road-map developed by the Panamanian Chamber of Technology, in 2018 it will become the first Information and Communications Technology Hub of the region", said Eduardo E. Jaén, head of the Secretary for Governmental Innovation.
Although progress has been made in the last years, technology adoption must be much faster, specially in government paperwork.
The implementation of Digital Signatures is one of the top must-does. Although the legal framework has been ready for more than a year now, regulation and norms have only been approved a couple of days ago, and there is still no entity responsible of administering and supervising the system.
español
3604
