Municipalities Ministry develops 31 digital services to increase efficiency

Manama, Wael bin Nasser Al Mubarak, Minister of Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture, announced the completion of upgrades for 31 service at the ministry, in line with the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to improve 500 services across 24 government entities, ensuring the highest standards of quality and efficiency. The minister emphasised Bahrain's commitment to advancing government services as part of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa's comprehensive development process, under the close follow-up of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister. He highlighted efforts to streamline services by fully adopting digital solutions, reducing required documents, and minimising the steps and time needed to complete procedures. The ministry has developed six municipal fee-related services, including account creation, updates, and closure, rent payments, and fee reductions for Bahraini famil ies. These services have been digitised, with a 50% reduction in required documents and a simplified process of no more than four steps. The ministry has also upgraded address-related services, including issuing, replacing, renewing, and deleting addresses, requesting address plaques, issuing replacement address cards, and updating addresses. These improvements have reduced service processing times by at least 25%. In advertising services, the ministry has developed processes for issuing, renewing, and cancelling advertising boards, issuing licences for non-commercial vehicle advertisements, and penalising failures to renew or remove advertisement licences. These services have been fully digitised, with fewer required documents and accelerated procedures. Regarding social services, two key services have been developed: maintenance requests for critical cases, such as rainproofing and general maintenance, which have been fully transitioned to digital platforms. The minister also highlighted the digitalisat ion of 12 other services, including residence proof certificates, requests for guards' certificates, street vendor licences, building permits, commercial unit usage, and rectification of property violations. One of the key developments is the automatic fee reduction for Bahraini families, which now occurs without the need for manual intervention or application, enhancing ease of access to this benefit. Additionally, the small building permit service, for additions not exceeding 50 square metres, has been enhanced with a 50% reduction in required documents, unified service information across all platforms, and full digitalisation. The minister concluded that these service developments have significantly improved the ministry's processes, ensuring they meet the highest standards of quality and efficiency by reducing paperwork, streamlining procedures, and fully transitioning to digital services in many areas. He noted that these enhancements were guided by continuous user feedback and evaluations through the national suggestions and complaints system, Tawasul. Source: Bahrain News Agency