A corner of Hạ Long City. — Photo baoquangninh.com.vn

QUẢNG NINH — Coastal city of Hạ Long in the northern province Quảng Ninh is angling to become a smart tourism city.

The city plans to apply technologies in various sectors including health, education, governance, transport, finance-banking and taxation with an aim to provide convenient services to people and businesses.

Authorities plan to accelerate the smart city development process and make the city a modern metropolis by 2020.

Five smart-city projects have investment for the 2017-20 period, including plans to upgrade lighting system,  set up online tax collection system and technology application in urban management and improve tourism safety on Hạ Long Bay.

According to Nguyễn Ngọc Sơn, chairman of the city’s People’s Committee, authorities have completed drawing up plans of these projects.

Nearly 3,500 Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps have been installed on 18 key roads of the city.

Lê Thanh Huỳnh, deputy head of the city’s public service management board said a public lighting controlling centre has been built to supervise the operation of the city’s lighting system.

The LED lamps help save electricity and more will be installed in the areas far from the city centre, Quỳnh said.

To develop a smart city, local agencies have piloted smart tax collection system at 34 enterprises to avoid tax losses.

Nguyễn Hữu Ban, head of the city’s Taxation Department said his agency has applied technology in managing electronic bills of businesses, households and individuals. A total 986 out of 3,607 local enterprises have used electronic bills. More than 3,000 units pay tax online.

The city aims to apply electronic bills at 60 per cent of local businesses by this year and all by 2020.

The city also aims at administrative procedure reform and building e-Government as well as look paperless hospitals.

The provincial general hospital, Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital and Bãi Cháy Hospital are also using electronic health records.

Patients may use hospital-issued cards that show their personal information and health records to book medical check-up appointments.

Hạ Long City is home to UNESCO World Heritage Site Hạ Long Bay.

Earlier Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc approved a master plan to develop the city into a world-class tourism and service hub by 2050. 

Under the plan, Hạ Long will be converted into a civilised and friendly sea tourism city with synchronous and modern socio-economic infrastructure systems. — VNS