VZCZCXRO4290
RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHAM #3654/01 2421005
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 301005Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0180
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 003654 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ELA 
STATE PASS USAID 
STATE PASS USTDA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EINT PGOV TINT KMPI JO
SUBJECT: E-GOVERNMENT: LOTS OF POTENTIAL BUT LITTLE ACTUAL 
IMPLEMENTATION TO DATE 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: After years of effort with few results, Jordan 
launched several e-government projects this summer, including those 
that will allow businesses to check their tax records online and 
citizens to review draft legislation.  Among the projects in 
development are an online business trademark registration 
application and an online payment system for government services. 
Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MoICT) 
employees, private sector consultants, and other ministries' 
information technology (IT) professionals have criticized the 
e-government initiative's pace, blaming the Government of Jordan's 
(GoJ) poor e-readiness and MoICT's leadership and staff.  Jordan's 
growing internet penetration and high mobile penetration will, 
however, continue to make these tools more useful.  End Summary. 
 
e-Government Projects - Very Few Live; Many in Progress 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶2. (U) After the GOJ announced its intent to  work on  the 
e-government concept in 2001, MoICT was assigned the lead role in 
coordinating interagency GoJ efforts.  Hassan Hourani, Director of 
e-Government at MoICT, has described the e-government initiative as 
a national program designed to enhance the performance of government 
in terms of service provision, efficiency, accuracy, 
cost-effectiveness and transparency.  In an August 20 meeting with 
Econoffs, Minister of MoICT Basem al-Rousan said that the 
e-government initiative was part of a larger national IT strategy to 
grow internet use, grow IT-related revenue, and increase the number 
of IT professionals.  He saw e-government as a way of encouraging 
internet use. 
 
¶3. (U) Some of the e-government initiatives have already been 
launched, and a Jordanian government portal was established in 
November 2006 with links to all government websites.  These websites 
vary in their interactivity, with the majority providing only 
text-based information.  On July 19, the Ministry of Planning 
launched an interactive website of draft laws and regulations, 
allowing the public and civil society organizations to submit 
comments.  Other interactive websites include the Department of Land 
and Surveys which enables citizens to request land drawings to be 
used in planning.  The Ministry of Finance has an online database 
where businesses and citizens can check their income tax records. 
 
¶4. (U) Based on a 2006 e-government strategic plan, MoICT has been 
focusing its efforts on payment systems, procurement systems, and 
system-wide change management.  E-government projects are also in 
development at other ministries.  Mohammhad Abu Asal, Head of 
Information Technology at the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), 
told EconOff that MoIT is finalizing online applications for its 
three most common processes: sole proprietorship registration; 
trademark registration; and trade name registration.  Other GoJ 
projects are focused on passport renewal and online income tax 
payment for large businesses. 
 
Criticisms of e-Readiness, Leadership, and Staff 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Despite these advances, Bissan Ramahi, Director of Change 
Management at MoICT, lamented that the number of active projects is 
still very low across ministries.  One of the biggest challenges, 
according to Hourani, has been limited staffing, given that the 
e-government department has 37 on-going projects and only 35 
employees.  Although the high-profile project initially attracted 
talented staff, low salaries and bureaucratic lethargy have 
contributed to poor retention and created obstacles for further 
recruitment. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Another issue has been e-readiness at the ministries.  In 
2006, an e-readiness assessment reviewed GoJ and its individual 
ministries on connectivity, infrastructure and human capital.  Many 
of the ministries received very low scores and Bashir Zoubi, Head of 
IT at the Income and Sales Tax division of the Ministry of Finance 
(MoF), said that the status has not changed significantly in the 
last year.  The e-government projects that have already launched or 
will launch soon were all sponsored by ministries with high 
e-readiness scores.  Ruba Kajo, MoICT Director of Strategic 
Planning, said a great deal of foundational work such as improving 
the government's networks, system security, and capabilities of IT 
staff needed to be undertaken before customer-facing e-government 
services could be launched. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Nearly all of the ministry and private sector officials 
also blamed the slow pace on the revolving door of ministers at 
MoICT and at other ministries.  The owner of a private equity 
investment firm in Jordan, Nashat Masri, commented that the small 
size of Jordan meant that ministers, especially those with short 
terms, often need to focus on maintaining relationships with the 
 
AMMAN 00003654  002 OF 002 
 
 
private sector, and as a result are not held accountable for project 
implementation. 
 
e-Gov in a Country with Low Internet Penetration 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶8. (U) One area of optimism for the GoJ is the e-government 
initiative's attention to mobile phone services and improving 
internet access.  Several of the e-government initiatives are 
beginning to look at text messaging rather than email communications 
because cell phone penetration in Jordan is near 50 percent.  Asal 
of MoIT said that mobile text notification is an easy addition to 
most online processes. 
 
¶9. (U) Post's private sector interlocutors identified internet 
penetration as a significant obstacle to e-government adoption. 
Hourani estimated internet penetration at 13.5 percent, which he 
said was sixth in the region.  Minister al-Rousan said that the 
barriers to penetration are the cost of computers, the cost of 
internet access and a lack of Arabic-language content.  In order to 
improve access, MoICT has set up 134 "knowledge stations" inside 
community centers across the country and provided computer training 
to center staff.  In addition, in 2008, MoICT hopes to install PCs 
in all of the country's post offices, but Hourani said many of them 
do not have internet access and a significant amount of training 
will be necessary.  MoICT Secretary General Abdul Karim Fraihat 
described a program to provide laptops to 40,000 Jordanian 
university students for $10 per month this year.  These laptops are 
expected to increase computer access nationwide. 
 
USG Involvement in e-Government 
------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (U) To address some of the e-readiness challenges, USAID has 
been involved in the e-government initiative in Jordan as part of 
its goal to improve government back-office operations and processes. 
 Through a $20 million court automation program, USAID has 
computerized and reengineered the case management system for 65% of 
civil court cases in Jordan.  By August 2008, USAID will have 
automated all 74 civil courts in Jordan and several special courts 
related to customs and economic sectors.  Lawyers will be able to 
submit cases on line; be updated on court dates through email and 
SMS; and automated kiosks will be installed in Jordan's largest 
court, the new Palace of Justice, to provide up-to-date information 
on cases and hearings.  USAID has also launched a state-of-the-art 
data center for Jordan's schools which connects the kingdom's 3,200 
public schools to the internet.  USAID and the Middle East 
Partnership Initiative (MEPI) have jointly invested about $10 
million to develop digital content, connect model schools, and train 
teachers.  Training for several MoICT project managers at an October 
2007 USTDA e-government seminar also aims to develop expertise and 
provide additional momentum for the e-government initiative.  Most 
recently, the Embassy, with support from the Department's Office of 
International Information Programs sponsored the August 27-28 visit 
of Steven Strauss, a noted e-commerce expert.  He presented to 
approximately 250 government, business, and student audience members 
at a variety of venues including MoICT.  His visit received 
extensive press coverage in all of the Arabic dailies, particularly 
his message of Jordan's potential for economic growth using 
e-commerce. 
 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) There is clearly a high level of activity at the MoICT 
generated by professionals who are clearly committed, trained in 
computer science, have significant and applicable private sector 
experience, and are familiar with change management and project 
planning.  In spite of these talents, however, the initiative's 
outputs thus far are underwhelming.  Expectations for the future are 
also modest, with interactive online tools being deployed by only 
the most technologically-savvy ministries and most ministry websites 
not yet having interactive applications. 
 
Visit Amman's Classified Website at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman 
 
HALE