Sharjah, October 3, 2010: After two years of preparation and planning, the Department of Information and e-Government, Government of Sharjah, is ready to unveil the e-Government portal www.sharjah.ae.    

The portal, to be launched on October 5, will offer information on Sharjah eGovernment and proposed eServices in the Emirate of Sharjah. Initially, the portal will offer only information, but in the next phase, 14 e-Services from 7 Sharjah departments will be offered through the portal, and more will be added over the next few months.

Mr. Mubarak Belaswad Mubarak, Director General of the Department of Information and e-Government and head of the e-Government Committee in Sharjah, said: "It is a matter of great pride for us to unveil the e-Government portal, as it represents Sharjah's entry into the world of e-Governance and e-Services."

The e-Government Committee of Sharjah, which has been working directly under the Executive Council, has put together a five-year plan that aims to increase the number of eServices offered through the portal to more than 400 services by 2014.

Mr. Mubarak said the e-Government portal has been launched after studying the experiences of some the world's most successful e-governments, and is powered by technology and solutions supplied by some of the world's best companies.

"The portal has been designed along best practices from leading e-governments, including Singapore," said Mr. Mubarak. "We will soon be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Singapore e-Government to exchange expertise and experiences."

"A readiness report has been circulated, and all departments have been issued guidelines and standards to be followed when they migrate to online systems," said Mr. Mubarak. "Various departments are now busy preparing to automate their services, in keeping with the goal of Sharjah Government to provide most services online through the new and advanced portal."

The Department of Information and e-Government began working on the e-Government project in 2008, starting with the laborious process of document preparation, with the support of a leading global consultant. The next step was to build the infrastructure and some of the world's most reputed IT companies were contracted to supply the hardware and software solutions. The Department then began a dialogue with different government departments in Sharjah to familiarize them with the systems, procedures and uniform standards that are key to a successful e-Government.

"From the start, we have set our standards high, and benchmarked best practices that have helped countries achieve great success in the field of e-Government. We are confident this approach will help us achieve our goals and make our portal one of the most advanced in the region," added Mr. Mubarak.