City's new portal streamlines service delivery

Shanghai authorities are stepping up the establishment of a comprehensive government affairs service platform which merges public services of all government departments, provides a one-stop portal for individuals and companies, and significantly streamlines the application and approval procedures.

Trial operations of the platform on the city government’s official website started in July, and involved 233 government service affairs from 29 government departments. These included a range of services related to passports, driving licenses, social security, pensions, marriage registrations and business operations, among many others.

It features unified identity authentication, a unified service hotline, unified public payment system and unified delivery.

An electronic license and certificate library has been established to support the platform, which has collected about 2.3 million licenses and certificates of 43 types from seven departments and four districts.

Licenses and certificates related with business operation and property proof are recognized, shared and accessible by different government authorities, saving companies the time of submitting these materials, said an official with the Shanghai Big Data Center.

The aim is that 100 percent of public government service affairs will be connected on the platform by October. In addition, the platform will incorporate public payments on 15 affairs covering traffic violation fines and other items by the end of September, and express delivery services covering all government departments will be available on the portal by late September.

The Shanghai police included 242 affair items in a unified platform, and introduced WeChat and Alipay payment for traffic violation fines.

The Shanghai Exit-Entry Administration Bureau of Shanghai Public Security Bureau has provided reservation services for passport application and the handling time will be cut significantly for those who have made reservation.

In the Pudong New Area, 52.9 percent of 327 government service affairs related with enterprises can be applied for and handled online, and the rest can be handled in one visit.

Since the system became effective in March, about 140,000 applications had been handled by the end of June, and the handling time was cut by 85 percent on average compared with the required time.

The electronic license and certificate platform of Pudong has collected 35,652 licenses and certificates of 56 types and property information has been shared and accessed by 13 departments on 70 affairs items.

“Government departments can assess and search for the property certificates provided by the property authorities, relieving a burden for companies because they needed to visit property centers to print the proof and make submissions for government services,” said Shi Feng, director of the electronic government affairs management center of Pudong New Area.

Offline, government authorities are also cutting red tape to make applications and handling more efficient.

At the Pudong New Area service center for enterprises, 129 items related with market access of enterprises have been included in a “single window” handling system, and there are designated windows for enterprises if they encounter problems in business licenses.