HK Govt Committed to Bringing IT Benefit to PublicThe Hong Kong government keeps on improving the information infrastructure in Hong Kong and promotes awareness of information technology (IT) to ensure that the public will be able to enjoy the benefits brought by IT development.IT can assist in the delivery of social services, and the users are able to obtain social services and improve quality of life by utilizing IT, said Cheng Yan-chee, acting director of information technology services, at a seminar on how the development of IT will benefit users of social services Friday. He said the government has undertaken various initiatives to provide the necessary information infrastructure to support the use and development of IT to ensure that members of the public will benefit from the development of IT. "The government has introduced measures to encourage more competition and lower the cost of using telecommunications services by the public, which will eventually lead to easier and more frequent use of IT in the community," Cheng said. In the latter half of this year, the government will launch the first phase of the Electronic Service Delivery scheme under which members of the public can obtain public services through the Internet or other electronic means 24 hours a day and seven days a week. To encourage and facilitate young people to use IT, the government last year granted funds of about 20 million HK dollars (1.56 million U.S. dollars) for the provision of free computer facilities and Internet services at 125 children and youth centers and agencies. |
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