Identifying digital transformation and smart city building as a breakthrough task during the 2021-2025 period, Ba Ria - Vung Tau province is focusing on digital government, digital economy, and digital society. The highest goal of the task is to serve society, people, and businesses in order to improve the area’s competitiveness index and investment and business environment, and boost socio-economic development.
Ba Ria - Vung Tau province’s intelligent operation and monitoring center (Photo: vccinews.vn/Vietnam Business Forum)
Last May, Ba Ria - Vung Tau administration issued a resolution on digital transformation, smart cities, and administrative reform.
Le Viet Trung, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Information and Communications, said the resolution sets out solutions for the development of technical infrastructure and platforms to ensure information security.
“Ba Ria - Vung Tau defines the main tasks of state management as serving and supporting people and businesses and using digital data to serve state management. It is focusing on the development of a specialized data transmission network. By 2023, it will transition to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). By 2025, a shared data warehouse and an open data portal will be developed,” said Trung.
Since the resolution, digital transformation in Ba Ria - Vung Tau has begun to produce results. 95.5% of households have broadband fiber optic Internet; 79% of people 15 or older in the locality have bank accounts and 92% of people have a smartphone.
There are programs to promote digital transformation for small and medium-sized enterprises and begin trial operations of a virtual assistant system and an intelligent operation and monitoring center (IOC).
Provincial agencies have been linked to exchange electronic documents at 4 administrative levels; and all administrative public service procedures are available online at levels 3, 4 in accordance to Government regulations.
In the agricultural sector, Ba Ria - Vung Tau has helped 7,000 farm households sell products on the e-commerce platform, create new distribution channels, build a brand, and improve their profits.
According to Tran Van Cuong, Director of the provincial Agriculture and Rural Development, “This model will continue to be applied long-term because of its sustainability. When products are sold on e-commerce platforms, it means farmers know where to advertise and sell their products. Producers can keep a close watch on the market and calculate the quantity and quality of products that will be needed to satisfy consumer demand.”
These changes improved Ba Ria - Vung Tau’s ranking on the Digital Transformation Index in 2020 to 29 last year from 39th out of 63 provinces and cities. The province wants to be in the top 20 this year in the top by 2025.
The conference on digital transformation in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province in March 2021 (Photo: Quang Hung/ictnews.vietnamnet.vn)
Meanwhile, Ba Ria - Vung Tau will continue to improve online public services and businesses will continue to digitize production and trade activities. Tech firms will provide more digital products and services.
Le Viet Trung, Deputy Director of the provincial Information and Communications Department, said, “Ba Ria - Vung Tau has identified businesses as the center, and developing e-commerce as the core, focusing the development of digital businesses on SMEs, and promoting innovation in enterprises.”
“To create a digital society, we’ll focus on training to transform awareness and developing social engineering platforms, a 5G network, and electronic payment platforms. Healthcare, education, training, logistics, industry, seaports, high-tech agriculture, and tourism will also be developed,” Trung added.
Ba Ria - Vung Tau aims to be among the top 10 provinces and cities in Vietnam in digital transformation by 2025.
By 2030, it will have completed digital transformation and built a smart city model. It is trying to comprehensively reform the management and administration of local government, the production and trade of enterprises, and people’s lifestyle and work, and make the digital economy the foundation of strong economic development and a safe, humane and prosperous society.