The Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP) said yesterday that it aims to launch a new “Business & Associations Platform” mobile app and website, offering three major functions, namely, “single-item service”, “licence renewal service” and “one-stop service”, this month, aiming to enable business operators and associations to deal with their services more centrally.
The single-item service function is defined as an administrative procedure on a matter involving two different public entities being carried out at the same time, while the one-stop service function refers to one-stop processing of licence applications, subsidies and other processes.
Members of the Northern District Community Service Consultative Council hosted their first regular meeting this year yesterday at the Government Service Centre in Areia Preta, during which SAFP senior officials briefed the members on the upcoming platform.
Speaking to the media during a press briefing after the meeting of the government-appointed council, member Xu Zhiwei quoted the officials as saying that the upcoming platform’s “associations” segment will aim to assist local associations in carrying out their administrative work such as when applying for certificates and searching for the personal data of their board members. Xu said that these functions will be added to the platform in the first phase.
The single-item service and one-stop service functions will also be included in the platform’s “associations” segment, which, according to Xu, involves membership applications and withdrawals.
In addition, Xu noted, in the “associations” segment, the three heads of an association, namely its president, board chairman and supervisory council chief, together can assign and authorise their association’s executive personnel to apply for relevant services.
On the issue of security, fellow member Chan Ka In cited the officials’ explanation that a 7x24 cloud computing system would oversee the relevant operations, thanks to which only those with the proper authorisation can access the platform’s various functions.
Since non-local residents cannot use facial recognition, according to Chan, they must open an account at a government service counter, in line with the authorisation procedures required by law.
The bureau’s platform, Chan quoted the officials as saying, will firstly use AI as a supporting role, i.e., when the respective government entity will gather questions from the public and then search for highly relevant answers through AI for reference.
In the future, when AI is relatively mature and complies with the law, an AI “customer service” function will be used, Chan said.
Further details will be announced by the bureau in due course, according to Chan.
Meanwhile, during yesterday’s meeting, several members urged the government to continue to optimise its e-Government services, with member Ho Wai San calling on the government to integrate various mobile apps launched by their respective public entities, on which visitors to Macau could check information such as the weather, customs clearance and public transport in advance.
In view of the large number of enterprises and associations in Macau, the promotion and publicity of the “Business & Associations Platform” needs to be further strengthened, fellow member Zeng Zengwei said, urging the government to launch relevant information on the new platform on the webpages of relevant public entities, or even launch a trial version, while also setting up a physical counter to collect feedback from platform users to optimise its specific functions.
The tourism authorities, meanwhile, should provide more options for residents to cope with tourism crises, Chan said during the meeting, urging the government to set up a rescue platform on the “Macao One Account”.
Two Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP) senior officials, including Deputy Director Chan Chi Kin (left), yesterday brief members of the Northern District Community Service Consultative Council on the SAFP “Business & Associations Platform” during the government-appointed council’s first regular meeting of the year, at the Government Service Centre in Areia Preta. – Photo: Yuki Lei
