More services online in downtown districts
A resident shows the residence permit he received within three minutes from a self-service machine at Zhongshan Park in Changning District on Friday.
The novel coronavirus pandemic has led Shanghai’s downtown districts to expand their online and self-services to reduce contact between citizens and service staff.
The practice is part of the city government’s efforts to allow citizens and companies to access more government services via a single website.
Changning District government released the city's first batch of “super self-service terminals” at six landmark sites such as the Zhongshan Park and Hongqiao business hub on Friday.
The machines allow citizens and companies to complete over 300 transactions without the help of staff.
They include applications for residence permits, maternity and medical insurance, employment subsidies, credit record checks and lost identity cards and traffic matters.
Huang Lei, a Changning employee from neighboring Anhui Province, got his residence permit within three minutes at one of the machines at Zhongshan Park.
“It normally takes at least seven working days and the applicants must head to the service windows,” said Huang. At the self-service machine, he needs only to scan his ID card and take a photo to lodge his application and receive his residence permit.
Over 170 residence permits have been issued by the self-service machines since the first opened in late April in a trial operation, accounting for 11 percent of the total number of applications in Changning.
To make it more convenient for companies, over 100 frequent issues in tax, new policies, business, law and human resources have been incorporated into the terminals.
Over 20 machines will cover all the 20 management grids of Changning by the end of the year. They will be installed at neighborhoods, office buildings and community service centers.
“Many of the services can also be handled on mobile phones,” said Yang Jian’an, deputy director with the Changning District government office.
“The self-service terminal makes it more convenient for applicants to take photos, copy certificates and for the elderly who cannot use mobile phones,” Yang said. “They are a supplement to the mobile and offline services.”
Based on the city's big data center, the services available at the self-service machines will be further expanded to over 400.
According to the city's big data center, the single website service has covered the Yangtze River Delta region to make it more convenient for residents in Shanghai and neighboring Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces.
The services available online include electronic certificates, and administrative and legal services. Since the integrated website for the Yangtze River Delta was launched in May, over 2.6 million affairs had been resolved, including 300,000 company issues.
A resident operates a self-service machine which is connected to the city's integrated website for various government services.
The Putuo District Administrative Affairs Service Center.
Government Open Day
To promote the online services, Putuo District invited over 30 citizens and company officials to its administrative service center on Thursday.
Jiang Dongdong, Putuo’s director, said 83 percent of its government services have been available online, but only 30 percent of applicants chose to resolve problems on the integrated website.
"That means the online services are still unknown to many citizens and have a large space to be improved," Jiang said.
"We'd like to make government services as convenient as online shopping to citizens and companies in Putuo," he said.
Putuo has a population of 1.29 million and about 55,000 companies. By the end of April, the district's integrated website had handled nearly a million issues, ranking the third among downtown districts.
The district launched a three-month "online service promotion season" on Thursday which coincided with the June 18 online shopping festival.
Promotional videos will be broadcast across the district's communities to teach residents how to deal with frequent issues online.
As part of the promotional events, citizens and company officials working, living or studying in Putuo were invited to visit the district's administrative service center and new archives before taking part in a discussion with district officials.
"I used to visit the administrative center frequently for various applications and issues, but now I can finish most of the issues online," said Xian Yue, a senior resident.
Li Feng, general manager with Putuo-based Dengfeng Trade Co, said the procedure to apply for a business license had been shortened to one day from seven days previously thanks to the integrated online services.
Over 30 citizens and company officials were invited to Putuo's administrative service center on Thursday as it promoted its online services.
