Speech at Panel on Information Technology and Broadcasting

E-Government Services

E-Government services

Ms YUNG Hoi-yan noted that the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (“OGCIO”) had launched the personalized service delivery platform, i.e. MyGovHK (www.gov.hk/mygovhk), in 2010 to provide services and information catered to the public’s needs. She shared her experience in using multiple government online services to deal with daily routines, such as using the eTax service to handle tax matters, making appointments through Hospital Authority’s (“HA”) “BookHA”. Ms YUNG asked about the utilization rate of the personalized service delivery platform. She also enquired whether and when the Administration would implement a one-stop service model in the platform so as to enable the public access various public services, including tax services, searches of land registers, booking of sports and recreation venues, and payment of various fees and charges.

Government Chief Information Officer (“GCIO”) advised that MyGovHK was currently providing 92 one-stop public services to the public with an overall utilization of about 300 million times in 2018-2019. The implementation of electronic identity (“eID”) in mid-2020 would help bureaux and departments (“B/Ds”) develop more convenient e-Government services or improve existing ones as the eID could be used for accessing different public services including those provided by HA.

Pilot blockchain project

Mr CHAN Chun-ying noted that OGCIO had discussed with four departments including Intellectual Property Department, Companies Registry, Environmental Protection Department and Department of Health to jointly implement pilot projects on application of blockchain technology. He questioned why the Administration had only chosen these four departments but not the Land Registry to implement blockchain projects, as the technology could help increase the efficiency of the land record processing work of the Land Registry.

GCIO responded that OGCIO had been working closely with a number of B/Ds including the Land Registry on identifying the departments for implementation of blockchain projects. While OGCIO considered that the pilot application of blockchain technology might assist the Land Registry in handling online transactions, the Land Registry indicated that it would be more prudent to consider the adoption of blockchain technology at a later stage. OGCIO expected that more government departments would adopt blockchain technology for providing e-Government services if the results of pilot projects were satisfactory