The Chairman of the Greater Amman Municipality Committee, Dr. Yousef Al-Shawarba, participated in the eighth session of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) conference and the World Summit for Local and Regional Leadership, which was held in Tangier, Morocco, under the slogan “The New Generation of Comprehensive Local Public Services.”
Al-Shawarba said, during his speech at the session on Digitizing Local Public Services – Digital Tools to Enhance Efficiency, Transparency, and Citizen Access to Service, that the experience of the Greater Amman Municipality in employing digital transformation is considered a practical tool to improve public services, enhance transparency, and expand the base of community participation.
He added that the Municipality of Amman began a comprehensive institutional program for digital transformation in 2017, working to re-engineer internal procedures before automating them, developing the technical infrastructure, gradually linking services to the electronic payment system, and activating remote service delivery channels.
Al-Shawarba explained that in 2021, the secretariat achieved a turning point by launching all its services electronically, becoming the first institution in the Kingdom to announce the completion of the complete conversion of its services to digital services.
He added that the secretariat today provides 154 electronic services, including 18 fully integrated services from start to finish (End-to-End) without any paper intervention, in addition to 6 electronic systems for archiving documents and 4 services that rely on artificial intelligence techniques, in addition to developing an integrated system for licenses, permits and field inspections, linked to geographic information systems and urban data, which supports data-based institutional decision-making and raises the efficiency of urban management in general.
Al-Shawarbeh said that the Municipality of Amman expanded the concept of the smart city by launching the Amman Smart City Strategy for the year 2024, which focuses on smart mobility, digital governance, and data-based urban management. The most prominent fruits of this step were the launch of the first contactless electronic payment system in Jordan, which works on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Amman buses, along with tools for monitoring real-time traffic, automated parking management systems, and electric vehicle charging stations.
He added that the Municipality has developed the “Oman Listens” platform, a participatory digital platform that uses interactive maps that allow citizens to learn about the services available in their geographical surroundings and interact with them directly, to be an effective tool for prioritizing municipal decisions based on the observations and needs raised by citizens, especially in times of emergencies and crises.
Al-Shawarba pointed out that the Secretariat is working to simplify the interfaces of digital services and reduce their procedural complexity, based on the fact that ease of use is a basic condition for inclusion. It also links digital transformation efforts to a broader path related to capacity building and lifelong learning, which is consistent with Amman’s membership in the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities, as digital empowerment is not only achieved by providing technology, but by enabling people to use it effectively and responsibly. This is why the Secretariat attaches special importance to enhancing media and information literacy as an essential part of building a capable and aware digital citizen.
He explained that this digital transformation was reflected in the level of institutional efficiency, as paper procedures, operational costs, and the number of field visits required to complete the transaction decreased, in a way that contributed to saving the citizen’s time and effort.
He pointed out that these efforts were reflected in tangible international results, as Amman became the first capital in the world to obtain the BSI Kitemark certificate in accordance with the international standard 37106 150 for smart and sustainable cities, and it also continued its progress in the IMD Global Smart Cities Index.
