Hạ Long City plans to use the mobile app Ezlife to interact with local residents and tourists. — Photo quangninh.gov.vn

QUẢNG NINH — Hạ Long City in northern Quảng Ninh province is the first city to use a mobile app to interact with local people, the provincial Department of Information and Communication has said.

Deputy director of the department Nguyễn Trung Tiến said Hòn Gai and Bạch Đằng wards have been selected to trial the Ezlife app, connecting local people on a number of issues in the wards.

The app was jointly developed by the Institute of Information and Communication Technology and the provincial Department of Information and Communications. It can be installed on smartphones.

The app would provide information from the local government, conveying announcements on administrative procedures and policies in a fast and accurate way. It would replace loudspeakers, which are backwards and costly.

Local authorities could survey residents about urban projects and plans in the wards.

Via the app, local people could submit reports of traffic, environment or security problems, or notify official on food safety and hygiene.

Feedback statistics would be shown in the app.

In the future, people would be allowed to comment on notifications from local governments.

The app provides emergency hotlines for residents by automatically detecting their location.

It would also increase e-government implementation, such as providing online public services that allow people to search websites quickly and provide official information about tourism sites and important events.

Information would be provided in articles, pictures and videos.

Residents and visitors would be able to evaluate or comment on the places or events. The feedback would help local authorities and tourism businesses better support visitors and improve the quality of services.

Tiến said the department would work with relevant authorities to add more functions to the app, such as implementing online temporary residence registration, electricity and water payments.

Early this month, residents of the two wards were introduced to the app.

The department would evaluate the effectiveness of the app during the trial period, he said. — VNS