Abu Dhabi, 17 Jan 2016:
The Abu Dhabi City Municipality (ADM) has launched Phase II of the online system for endorsing roads & infrastructure designs (IDAS); an online procedure aimed at empowering consultants to apply for projects, obtain approvals, and communicate with the design sections at the Municipal Infrastructure & Assets Sector online. The system maintains an integrated project database for all design phases, and supports the Municipal Infrastructure & Assets Sector in developing a world-class infrastructure capable of supporting the vision of Abu Dhabi 2030.
This new online service epitomizes the vision of the municipal system and the ADM aimed at automating municipal procedures and services, providing modern services matching to customers’ aspirations, realizing the vision of Abu Dhabi Government for the continual improvement of services, and responding to the needs of improving performance and sustainable development.
The online system has multiple features such as: enabling consultants to apply and upload projects online directly to the concerned bodies at the Municipality, enabling consultants to track their transactions, and achieving higher transparency by revealing the names & e-mail addresses of all individuals concerned with the handling & technical auditing of the transaction. The system also opens communication channels with the concerned parties at the Municipality through text messages, e-mail and the online appointment booking system. It also facilitates the transition to the online endorsement of project designs instead of paper messages, enables the classification of transactions in a way that helps managing application & tracking the project status, and creates a clear electronic business model enabling employees to accomplish transactions on time.
Several entities will benefit from the system topped by consultants, and developers of roads, parks and infrastructural projects. The new system will have a great impact on improving the performance, and the quality of services in terms of considerably expediting technical reviews as it will be possible to examine the transaction at the same time by all concerned bodies rather than in succession. It also establishes a direct online relationship between the consultant and design sections at the Divisions of the Infrastructure Sector without going through routine and time-taking procedures for receiving and dispatching transactions through incoming & outgoing deliveries.
The online endorsement of designs model achieves a host of key and effective benefits such as the express online application taking just about 10 to 20 minutes (compared to one or two working days in the past through paper-based submission involving application letter signed by the concerned personnel along with attachments and CDs, printouts of documents and layouts, and the delivery to the Municipality.
Moreover, the cost of the online submission is only 30 dirham taking into consideration the cost of working hours, whereas the cost of paper-based submissions is about 1000 dirham taking into consideration the cost of working hours, and the consumed energy & resources such as paper, printing, CDs and the delivery.
Among other achievable benefits is that the online system enables the submission of all infrastructural designs including roads & parks through a single online portal, whereas it used to be submitted to three separate entities (Roads and Infrastructure Design Section, Parks Design Section, and Traffic Services Section). It also facilitates the transfer, distribution and keeping tasks from loss & damage, and enables searching for them in minutes by all concerned bodies at the Municipal Assets & Infrastructure Sector, and the Town Planning Sector. Thus all projects can be electronically archived under the new online system.
The system enables the tracking the status of transactions and endorsing them online, and managing projects online without requiring communication with the concerned engineers or reporting to offices for reviews. It streamlines the communication with the concerned bodies in the Municipality via a system of notifications, be it text messages, e-mail messages, or the online booking of appointments. It accelerates the obtaining of approvals along with technical observations about the project, and links the project sites with the GIS database; which is being upgraded by interfacing it with a comprehensive spatial database depicting the status and phases of projects in order to streamline projects and eliminate contrasting and overlapping.
The ADM has received through the initial phase of the new online system during 2015 about 348 transactions.
The system also has positive bearings on the status and profile of infrastructural projects in Abu Dhabi as it is part of efforts intended to realize the vision of Abu Dhabi Vision 2030. Such a vision is built on developing a practical structural framework for upgrading Abu Dhabi city taking into consideration the protection of cultural assets, promoting Arabic & Islamic communities, and enhancing the interaction between residents and their environment. It will also enrich the vision of Abu Dhabi city of nurturing an efficient world-class efficient municipal system capable of achieving sustainable development and enhancing the quality of living in Abu Dhabi Emirate through providing all the requisite electronic technologies to support and accommodate the forthcoming urban and property developments in the Emirate.
According to the applicable procedures of the Municipal Assets and Infrastructure Sector, the endorsement of infrastructural project designs has become accessible to roads, parks and infrastructural consultants.
The system will contribute to achieving the values & standards of sustainability and reducing carbon footprint. Carbon emissions of one paper transaction equal to 80 KG of carbon dioxide whereas the online transactions generates only 3 KGs only when we take into consideration emissions caused by energy and fuel consumption, paper manufacturing and printing. This translates into saving two trees annually per each online transaction; which results in reducing carbon emissions by as much as 96%.
It is noteworthy that the Municipality has carried out a survey amongst consultants dealing with this online system where it was revealed that the satisfaction rating has reached 100%. The percentage of those fully satisfied with the system was 70%, others just satisfied with the system were 30%, but those unsatisfied with the system were zero.