The value of the epayments in Bahrain exceeded BD50 million ($131.8 million) in the first half of the year, marking a year-on-year increase of 74 per cent paid through more than 600,000 transactions made through the National Portal Bahrain.bh, eKiosks and smartphone applications, said the Information &eGovernment Authority (iGA).

Such increase is due to the increase of a bundle of ePayments services as ‘New Vehicles Registration’ provided by the General Directorate of Traffic, which has increased by about five times as well as the increase of approximately double the use of ‘Payment of Court Execution Ruling’ Service provided by the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Awqaf.

This is due to the continuous awareness efforts carried out by the entities that provide these services, in cooperation with iGA.

Acting vice CE for eTransformation Dr Zakareya Ahmed AlKhajah said that the constant support and follow up by the Supreme Council of Information & Communication Technology chaired by H.H. Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa helps in directing the authority to develop its services with what is needed to keep up with this progress, as well as to provide various options that adapts to the users need.

Especially that the ePayments services are being the most needed services by users, which give the need to develop variation of ePayment methods. He also added that the authority will keep on developing more eServices during the second half of the current year.

Dr AlKhajah addressed his sincere thanks to all governmental entities and officials, mentioning in particular Lt Gen Shaikh Rashidbin Abdulla Al Khalifa, Minister of Interior, for his constant care in following up the authority’s performance, improvements and services to the citizens.

As well as expressing appreciation to these entities for their constants cooperation in providing the eServices. Indicating that the entities are in constant coordination with (iGA) in order to improve the services and re-engineer their functions with what is in conformity with the government orientation in providing quality and efficient services.

The statistics revealed the high dependence on the applications of smart phones to accomplish the eServices, the percentage of usage exceeded by three times for some applications during the first six months of 2018, compared to the same period of last year.

According to statistics, the eGovDirectory app which provides the contacts data for the officials of the governmental entities, registered an increase in its usage by three times, in the first half of the year in comparison to the same period of last year. This increase is due to providing the contact information of the Kingdom's official’s offices via the app. This data is important since it is a direct link between the users of the application and officials.

In addition, the usage of ‘Tawasul’ application increased by more than 80 per cent during the same period, thanks to the fact that the application is user friendly, enabling users to submit their complaints, suggestions and inquiries to government officials, as well as to attach documents using the function of smart phones.

While the application ‘Wejhati’ provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs increased in use by 60 per cent thanks to the Ministry and the Authority's awareness efforts to make use of it, especially in the annual travel seasons. – TradeArabia News Service