A programme on information technology (IT) application and development was considered to make a breakthrough for Dong Nai’s industrialisation and modernisation in the 2001-2005 period.
From 2001, with a project entitled ‘Computerisation of State administrative management’ Dong Nai built its programme on IT application and development for the 2001-2005 period. So far, the province has built a complete telecommunication network with optical and microwave connections, capable of transmitting data at a speed of between 64kb/s and 600kb/s from the province to districts and communes. The province has built six telecommunication stations with 75 local stations and 84 electronic switchboards, consisting of five host and 79 satellite switchboards, which have a total number of subscribers reaching 500,000 units.
In particular, a project on bringing the Internet to rural areas within the programme has gained outstanding results. It has become popular that local farmers search on the Internet for information about market and technology for their production and business activities. Many of them have even begun electronic transactions. So far, Dong Nai has 25,428 Internet subscribers. At the same time, information about Dong Nai on the Internet has been diversified.
IT has helped agencies and departments save time in information processing, thus helping them reduce workloads, facilitating their jobs and improving the effectiveness of State management. Information networks have been developed, such as the CP.Net (a network for the government) connected from the Dong Nai People’s Committee to districts, towns and cities, agencies and departments, and the Intranet of the Department of Customs, the office of the People’s Committee, State management agencies, the Department of Science and Technology, and the banking and financial sector. The Department of Science and Technology has become a pioneer in building IT application programmes for its management and operation activities, meeting ISO standards, such as personnel and accounting management.
Therefore, the province has developed IT infrastructure facilities, meeting the local demand for management and information activities. However, Dong Nai still has to do much to gain a breakthrough in IT development. This is because Internet connections in districts remain slow due to a lack of ISDL and ADSL services. In the mean time, the awareness of the role and effect of IT of the local people, managers of State-owned, and small and medium-sized enterprises remains poor. The development and application of IT have not met the requirements of the province’s industrialisation and modernisation yet. In many places, IT application remains formalistic, leading to waste in resources. Also, human resources for IT are disqualified, failing to meet the demand. Costs of IT services are still high. The number of Internet subscribers has reached 2,000.
Even though IT has been applied in many State management agencies and enterprises, it remains at an elementary level. The computerisation of State management has not been combined with administrative reform yet, resulting in poor effectiveness. Local IT resources have been formed and located in various agencies and enterprises. Also, even though the province has set up many training centres, it doesn’t have a specialised IT centre. Clearly, these are shortcomings Dong Nai province will have to overcome in the future to make a real breakthrough in IT application and development.
Hong Hanh
Vietnamese
