It may be a long road ahead, but Ukraine is well on its way to making government services electronic and online, and it’s making a start with services related to transport.
By using a new electronic system for transport related services, Ukrainians can access a variety of vital state services online, including a portal for obtaining permits for international shipping and one for getting permits to ship oversized loads. Other services relating to cargo, trucking and shipments can also be accessed.
The service called “e-transport” was introduced on Dec. 27 at a joint briefing by Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Kryklii and the Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.
The service aims to reduce bureaucracy and make the system more transparent. Besides permits for transportation, it also allows online users to obtain or to cancel licenses for transportation and to monitor the documents.
“It is an optimization of services in light of the urgent market needs and user-friendliness,” Fedorov said. “The services are provided quickly and conveniently, online payment is available,” he added.
Law enforcement may also benefit. The exchange of data with the Ukrainian Customs Service will allow for tracking people who try to forge permissions. Additionally, it offers an e-protocols for road inspectors and a video surveillance system to increase transparency of the permitting process.
“These are real steps that help us integrate into a single transport network uniting Europe with Asia and turn Ukraine into an international transport hub,” Kryklii said.
According to Kryklii, they also plan to add seven more online services to the system in the near future.
The introduction of the new service is one part of the government’s goal to digitalize the country and develop electronic government. There is a well known need for transparent and convenient e-services for citizens, businesses, and investors in Ukraine.
However, the introduction of e-transport services is not the first step the new government has made towards digitalization and e-governance.
The so-called “State in a Smartphone,” which aims to transfer 100% of state services online, was a big election promise of President Volodymyr Zelensky. And now, Fedorov is responsible for implementing this idea.
Zelensky signed a decree aiming to make all government services electronic and online in July 2019.
The decree specifies 11 steps for the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to roll out several e-services for Ukrainians, including auditing all the country’s registers, making them work together, and putting up a single website for access to such services.
And in December, Fedorov’s ministry launched a beta version of Diia (Ukrainian for “action”), an online service for state services aimed at simplifying the process of getting a driver’s license or renewing one’s ID card.
This e-portal will unify citizen data, allowing people to see all their information in one place and also to understand what information the government holds. The service will be officially launched in February 2020.
Bit there is still a lot to be done.
Prior to that, Ukraine has introduced various online platforms over the years aimed to ensure e-services in the country. Those platforms, however, have been introduced in a fragmented manner and were mostly unknown.
The only platform standing out was iGov, a platform voluntarily developed by Dmytro Dubilet, former IT director at the country’s biggest bank PrivatBank, and handed over to the previous government in 2018.
Read also: Introducing e-government to help Ukraine integrate with EU
