HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The capital is mapping out a plan to become a smarter city by applying information technology, said director of the city's Information and Communications Department director Phan Tu Lan.

Under the plan, IT strategies will be applied in the transport, healthcare and education sectors, according to Lan. For example, the healthcare sector will create electronic health records for each patient and better administrative management systems for hospitals.

"The move will make public services more convenient to use," she said.

The Information and Communications Department expects to submit the plan to the municipal People's Committee by the middle of this year. If approved, it will be implemented next year.

Ha Noi ranked second in IT application in 2012, behind the central city of Da Nang, according to a 2013 report by the Ministry of Information and Communications. In 2011, Ha Noi ranked 19th.

According to a report released on May 10, 96 per cent of departments and agencies in the city apply "one-door" software programmes to monitor the progress of administrative procedures.

All municipal departments, agencies and People's Committees at district level link their homepage to the municipal portal (hanoi.gov.vn), which publicises about 2,300 administrative procedures. The city offers 108 online public services.

Since 2010, the city has rated the application of information technology in its departments and agencies annually based on four criteria: IT facilities, IT application in administration and public service delivery, IT in human resources and policies to boost IT application.

Director of the city's Department of Planning and Investment Pham Van Khuong said that IT application in human resources and infrastructure helped promote the application of IT in governance as a whole.— VNS