Government will launch a birth registration mobile app next week. Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum yesterday gave Parliament an update on the Government’s digital transformation programme, digitalFIJI, and gave an update on what Fijians can expect.

“Next week, we’ll launch a birth registration mobile app that will allow new mothers and fathers to initiate the birth registration process electronically from the hospital or at home as opposed to going to a Birth, Death, Marriage Office,” he said.

The details on the birth certificate will be automatically extracted from the hospital system. With this new system in place, parents can pre- book a time to collect the birth certificate.

“Initially, this will be available for those who give birth in CWM Hospital in Suva and we intend to progressively expand this to parents in other parts of Fiji.”

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum further revealed that reprinting of birth certificates would be streamlined when Government launched an e-service for the request to reprint.

What this means is that Fijians no longer have to spend considerable time waiting in line and getting a number to reprint their birth certificates.

“They can request for this on the digitalFIJI mobile application, book an appointment and come to the BDM office to collect the birth certificate at the allocated time.

“We are exploring the use of e-Birth Certificates and, shortly, we will be able to pay for these services online.”

e-Profile:

Fijians are also able to create an e-Profile under the digitalFIJI app, giving them direct access to the Fijian Government’s e-services. Users would be issued a username and password upon registration.

“Through this secured, single sign-in, Fijians can access all current and future digitalFIJI services,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.

“The e-Profile will display personal information and the tax lodgement history from FRCS (Fiji Revenue and Customs Service) database. FNPF (Fiji National Provident Fund) information will also be available on their e-Profile.”

By August, this year, the Fijian Government aims to have the e-Payment component rolled out.

“What this means is instead of queuing up at the Government services online, instead of queuing up at the Government office for the service people will only need to go to the Government office to collect the documentation or instrument.”

Companies Registry:

By June this year, the Companies Registry system will be online. What this means for our people is that:

• They will be able to do 24/7 online company searches for the companies that have been digitised and verified. This will be a progressive exercise given that some of these instruments are dated as far back as pre-independence;
• The turnaround/waiting time to receive documentation will be reduced by approximately half; and
• The accuracy of data and service quality will dramatically improve.

Data harmonisation:

By June this year, work will begin on the Data Exchange Platform.

What this means is that the People Data and Establishment Data for companies and businesses will be shared across Government agencies, with security guaranteed by strict access protections.

Within two years:

• Fijians will be able to do 24/7 online searches for leases, titles and deeds. This will also include lodgement and any other transactions regarding land instruments;
• The waiting time to receive documentation is expected to reduce by half; and
• The accuracy of data and service quality will be dramatically improved.

Ease of doing business:

Government is reviewing the process to obtain Construction Permit Approvals, with an expected improvement in efficiency of 25 per cent.

“Decreasing the number of requirement forms from 27, down to 9, cutting down turnaround time by over 40 days just by implementing the redesigned processes.”

Edited by Epineri Vula

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