Speaking at a recent meeting, Dr. Pham Thai Son, an expert onurban development at UN Habitat and Viet Duc University, saidthat database sharing among management agencies at both centraland local levels was key to the process of developing e-government.
Nguyen Van Chuong, Vice Chairman of the Hoa Binh ProvincialPeople’s Committee, said though the National Public Service Portalhas been put into operation, there is a lack of a data sharingmechanism among management agencies at both central and local levels.
Luong Hai Au, Director of Hai Phong city’s Department ofInformation and Communications, said Hai Phong city’s Smart CityMonitoring and Administration Centre is piloting a programme to builda database system in various fields, such as transport,education and healthcare, among others.
The city is now in the process of digitising the data,he added.
Nguyen Thi Minh Hanh, head of Urban Development Strategy andPlanning Department, said only two-thirds of cities and provinces in thecountry have plans for developing smart cities.
Phung Hoang Duong, General Director of Signify Vietnam, said tobuild a smart city, the data of that city must be well connected witha national shared database.
The problem is that a digitised database has notbeen completely built, and thus cannot be shared for dataanalysis purposes.
Nguyen Duc Hien, Vice Chairman of the Party Central Committee’sEconomic Commission, said the construction of a smart city must focuson regional and international connectivity.
Vietnam has set a target by 2025 to have 100% of nationaldatabases to serve e-government, including databases aboutpopulation, land, business registration, finance and insurance, which will beconnected and shared on a nationwide scale.
The country plans to create a legal framework for the developmentof e-government toward a digital Government, digital economy and digitalsociety.
Under an e-government development strategy by theMinistry of Information and Communications, the development of e-governmentwill be associated with the process of digital transformation, smart urbandevelopment and ensuring network safety and security.
All operations of State management would be digitalised to leadthe national digitalisation process.
Citizens and enterprises will be the centre of the digitalisationprocess, which will aim at improving transparency, simplifying administrativeprocedures and creating convenience when accessing public services.
The strategy aims to link the development of e-government with Vietnamesedigital technology enterprises which have core technologies and open platformsto serve digital government services.
Vietnam in recent years has joined smart city networks in theregion and around the world.
The country has three cities (Hanoi, HCM City and DaNang) which have joined the ASEAN Smart City Network since2018. More than 40 out of 63 cities and provinceshave implemented smart city projects, mostlyin traffic, education, healthcare and others.
The ASEAN Smart City Network aims to facilitatecooperation in the region on smart cities for sustainable development.
It also focuses on developing a digital infrastructureand increasing connectivity in the region in areas such as electronic payments.Other areas of focus include city operations, energy and water conservation./.