All agencies must be included in a truly unified Smart City initiative. It is not only limited to agencies dealing with Transportation, Information and Communication, Education and Healthcare. It requires the efforts of more agencies who help their people embrace a smarter vision and identify with it.
On a recent trip to Jakarta, we met with Mr Kemas Mohd. Nur Asikin, Head of Data Centre and ICT, Ministry of Public Works.
The Ministry of Public Works supports Highway, Public housing, water resources, human settlement (drainage), public housing, Construction, POPS, R&D and Coordinating agencies.
This Ministry has a quite extensive IT infrastructure. The IT department has 80 employed to manage the network for over 25,000 Ministry of Public Works staff. They are currently handling about 300 servers throughout the Ministry and they aim to consolidate server information at a data centre.
This Ministry boasts the second largest budget for technology, out of Indonesian Federal Government agencies. Mr Kemas Mohd. Nur Asikin were happy to talk to us about what projects they are working on and what technology they are in control of. According to an estimate made by the Public Works Ministry, spending will hit over Rp 407 trillion (US$39 billion) in 2014 more more being invested in 2015.
The method of communication between the Ministry of Public Works and how they intersect with different government units is vital. The way that they communicate with other Government units is through CD, internal email, and private networks via VPN. This shows the need for consolidating communication networks throughout the Ministry. OpenGov was asked to assist in this area by hosting an event in Jakarta and bringing in international government experts in this field to share their experience.
Geospatial data and information is being used frequently throughout the public sector. The Ministry of Public Works is currently using two technology vendors for mapping. The Public works GIS tool is accessible to the whole public at https://sigi.pu.go.id/webgis.
The Ministry of Public Works manages many areas of knowledge. We wanted to know what they are focusing on right now. Mr Kemas told us different projects they are currently working on include: increasing the ability of Human Resources, increasing the data infrastructure, creating an app for e-office systems, and hosting all apps in the Public Works data centre.
The Ministry of Public Works is motivated to improve its capabilities amidst the challenges they face. These challenges include identifying efficient ways to monitor local area, local constructions, help both the local and regional units streamline their processes, and determine the best way to transfer data securely and rapidly.
By incorporating new technology into their Ministry and learning from other agencies, Public Works could have the ability to streamline operations and provider greater services to citizens.