A deputy to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) has called for the establishment of a new government data center to consolidate information from various sources and make it more easily accessible to both organizations and individuals.
Sun Pishu, chairman and CEO of China's largest server producer, Inspur Group, told China.org.cn on Wednesday that the government needs to improve the accessibility of public service data in the digital age.
Sun cited recent statistics, stating that "20 percent of the information needed for daily use can be accessed from the internet, with the rest being mostly controlled by government agencies, such as people's credit records and the accumulated balance of their public housing accumulation fund and pension funds."
He explained, "These data are sourced from different government departments and should be combined for better availability, especially those concerning people's everyday needs."
In the 2018 government work report, Premier Li Keqiang vowed to improve implementation of the Internet Plus Government Services model, enabling more services to be processed online. The report also commits to developing connectivity among government data systems and linked "information islands."
"We need to remove barriers, cut red tape, and build even pathways to energize market entities and bring greater convenience to the people," the Premier said at the first session of the 13th NPC on March 5.
Sun said that building open access to consolidated data is a major step toward developing "Internet Plus Government Service" so as to streamline procedures, save time and increase transparency in public service.
Citing property registration as one example, Sun explained that the procedure, which in the past has involved over 70 data sets handled by multiple agencies over a period of several days, could, with the help of consolidated information from the data center, be completed in one place without the need for additional trips.
The deputy further noted that searchable and consolidated data could contribute to the country's targeted poverty relief campaign by clearly identifying impoverished populations and making precise assessments to provide the most effective aid.