The citizen and government portal and e-Algerie program
On December 7, 2022, a government portal for public services was launched by the Ministry of Digitization and Statistics. This portal follows in spirit and replaces in practice, the portal El Mouwatin, launched by the MPTIC in 2011. It responds to the recommendation of the Major Axis "A" described on page 27 of the e-Algeria Program.
The e-Algeria program was approved by the Government and launched on December 31, 2008. It was an ambitious initiative, at the time it aimed at promoting information and communication technologies related to e-government and public services. The objective of this program was to modernize the digital infrastructure and administrative processes of the country and provide better services to citizens.
The program has 14 axes that can be grouped into five components: infrastructure and equipment, capacity building, software, training and management, and societal benefits. Infrastructure and equipment aimed to ensure the availability of appropriate equipment and infrastructure within the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information and Communication Technologies, to allow direct communication with other institutions and thus enable interoperability.
In addition, the program was to provide the programs and services associated with the design and management of portals, websites and databases. Focusing on training and management, Algeria had also worked to promote companies specializing in information technology and communication as well as the establishment of data centers and information systems and training of experts in the field of new technologies in all their aspects.
For e-Algeria to become a reality, the government had to ensure that it had the necessary resources. For this purpose, the Algerian government had planned a budget of about 4.5 billion euros, 60% of which came from public funds. These funds were to be used in several ways, such as infrastructure development, information and communication technologies for primary and secondary education, the e-government portal, public Internet access centers, and remote work via public and private networks.
The project was to become an engine for creating new services for citizens, with a set of digital "toolkits" that facilitate citizens' interaction with their government.
This includes new ICT tools available on the e-Algeria portal and the launch of more than a thousand new actions leading to at least as many projects, such as direct submission to government institutions, provision of online courses and education, and online tax payment to name a few.
The e-Algeria 2013 program represented a major effort by the state to provide the country with the technology it needed to embrace digital in all its dimensions.
Through this program, not only should citizens have been able to interact with their government more effectively, but the country as a whole should have had its digital infrastructure complete and functional within the time frame of 10 years ago.
It turns out that the e-Algeria 2013 program was, in fact, stillborn as early as January 2009! Its history is a patchwork of misunderstandings having generated a puzzle of attempts, more or less successful, deserted by the harmony that would have allowed the overall movement necessary for the digital transition of the country.