MUSCAT: As part of digitalization, public services provided by various government institutions in the country are likely to go online over the next four years, national daily Oman Observer reported on Tuesday. 

Lead by Information Technology Authority (ITA), as many as 59 different Omani government ministries will digitialise its services. Plans for the digitalisation of key public services stem from a month-long ‘Lab’ hosted earlier this year by the ITA with the support of the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Implementation Support & Follow-up Unit (ISFU) of the Diwan of Royal Court. The Lab produced a series of recommendations for invigorating the growth of a strong ICT industry — crucial to Oman’s economic diversification objectives.

Outlining the rationale behind digitalising public services, a recent report by ISFU explained: “The existing digital government services in the Sultanate facilitate many transactions for citizens, governmental and private institutions. They also save a lot of effort, time and money. Therefore, this project is intended to accelerate the digital transformation of the most important government services. This will be achieved through the implementation of the public-private partnership financing model.”

The digitalisation drive will seek to “improve” the quality and demand for government services, according to the Information Technology Authority (ITA). “The project is also expected to improve the efficiency of government performance and raise the level of transparency, and will provide 490 job opportunities by 2022,” the ISFU report noted.