Dubai eGovernment’s ePay generates over AED 2 billion in first half of 2012
Statistics reveal a 21 % increase over same period last year
August 01, 2012
The online payment services provided by Dubai eGovernment Department through the Internet and mobile phone for instant payment of government fees are experiencing increasing demand by the public with over AED 2 billion collected in the first half of 2012 representing a 21% increase over the previous year. ePay enables customers to electronically settle their dues for various Dubai government services in a secure manner.
Over AED 2.07 billion through 1,641,556 transactions was collected through ePay on behalf of all the participating local entities by the end of June 2012. This compares to a total of AED 1.7 billion through 1,396,973 transactions in the first half of 2011. Dubai Customs, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), Dubai Health Authority (DHA), Department of Economic Development and Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) were the top five government entities respectively in terms of the electronically collected amounts, while DHA, DEWA, RTA, Dubai Customs and Dubai Police were the top three government entities respectively in terms of the number of transactions achieved.
Ahmed Bin Humaidan, Director General of Dubai eGovernment said: “These results clearly indicate the favourable pace of eTransformation in Dubai as reflected by the increasing adoption of ePay as a preferred mode of payment to complete government transactions on one hand and the higher degree of confidence shown by customers in the efficiency and safety of this option on the other.”
Bin Humaidan added: “This service allows both corporate and individual customers to pay online for government services either through credit cards or direct debit from the customer’s account in the five participating banks; namely, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Dubai Islamic Bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Union National Bank.”
He noted that payment through credit cards was still the customers’ top preferred option with the amounts electronically collected through credit cards exceeding AED 1.8 billion. He also noted that the use of direct debit option grew noticeably during the first half of this year with the amounts collected through this option growing to around AED 247 million through over 450,000 transactions.
Meanwhile, a total of AED 3,215,442 through 15,645 transactions was collected through the Dubai eGovernment mobile payment gateway mPay in the first half of 2012. Currently, a number of government entities are participating in this service, which is done by sending an SMS to 4488 to inquire about and settle due fees or amounts. The service covers Salik recharge from RTA, payment of traffic fines from Dubai Police and payment of electricity bills from Dubai Electricity and Water Authority.
Dubai eGovernment has previously introduced new updates and features on the mPay gateway including activation of the auto-payment/auto recharge of the government services provided by mPay regularly (daily, weekly, monthly or at a specific date for payment or recharge). The new updates and feature also allow control over the minimum balance and the maximum payment/recharge in addition to optimization of the “multiple accounts” feature, which allow users to configure mPay to support multiple accounts for one government service after registering on the website of the service, https://mPay.dubai.ae, only once and allowing the customer’s credit card to be identified.
ePay and mPay are part of the Dubai eGovernment’s initiative which aims at providing government services through innovative channels in order to ease the lives of people and businesses interacting with the Government in Dubai. Dubai eGovernment offers online government services through electronic channels for the public and the business community to have an efficient and comfortable mechanism for instant payment of government fees instead of wasting time and effort by personally visiting banks or the departments concerned.