Rowing the Sub boat to pick up garbage on the Perfume River
“Trying the capacity of” the government
"Green Sunday" is a phrase that has been so familiar to everybody for decades. Thua Thien Hue has also launched the "Green Sunday" movement, the core of which is Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union. The Secretary, Chairman, comrades in the Provincial Party Standing Committee and leaders of the Provincial People's Committee have assigned one another to give guidance and collect garbage.
“Green Sunday" has been developed for a few months, and people feel the change. The roads are clean; sidewalks are organized, and littering is sharply reduced. The city is clean and beautiful; the rural areas, even the routes on the border of A Luoi District are spacious and bright with flower colors.
The information about the Center for Monitoring and Operating Smart Urban Services (abbreviated to IOC), which has just come into operation and won the First Prize at Telecom Asia Awards 2019, Category l “Asia's most innovative, smart city solution", has heartened Hue people.
As a result, many delegations of the Government leaders visited, and almost all 63 provinces and cities sent their delegations to visit and study. Most of the conclusive statements of many localities before parting are "it's hard to follow!”, and what is “the tough nut to crack” here?
One of the IOC services the people regularly access is the "reflection of the scene". The service connects the people to the government through the Hue-S application on mobile phones, websites and Facebook. The first day of the service development was also the time when the "Green Sunday" began to spread widely.
The people have used this service right away to “try the capacity of” the government. In just a very short time, all the issues such as environmental sanitation, urban infrastructure, parking in contravention of the regulation, using public vehicles for wrong purposes, violating traffic order ... have been all posted on the system.
From being satisfied with the prompt responses, many people turned the blunt words back to the IOC because their other reflections were not addressed.
The link between the people's wishes and the government's settlement capacity through the IOC was at risk of being broken. Instead of posting their reflections to the IOC, some people posted the derisive words on their personal Facebook.
Confronting and changing
It has been nearly a year since "Green Sunday" was born. Through the first phase of the movement, the "Green Sunday" had ups and downs, but it has been persistently developed as the green trees began to root in the ground.
That the force joined directly in weekly sanitation has spread to the agencies, schools and some people. The awareness of environmental sanitation in the province has undergone a marked change. The increasingly fresh and beautiful living environment speaks volumes for the effectiveness of "Green Sunday".
The overdue responses on the IOC operating site have been gradually reduced; the satisfaction rating and the number of the people's reflections have been on the rise. This affirms the people’s confidence in the government on listening to, receiving and handling reflections.
Is the rubbish collection to do with the operation of smart city services? Behind these seemingly separate activities are a goal and philosophy: Thua Thien Hue boasts the natural and social conditions for rich, beautiful and sustainable development. To this end, the crucial issue is to radically change the mindset, manner, and performance of working of the whole system from the government, political organizations at all levels to public service providers, relevant businesses across the province.
"Green Sunday", above garbage collection, helps the people identify the problem: "Green Sunday" is not merely the problem of government, organizations collecting garbage, but more importantly, the mobilization of the people to collect garbage and not to litter indiscriminately. A system of government and organizations that cannot mobilize the people to do the things they should (especially the things that do not cost them money) is also unable to mobilize the people to do bigger things. This becomes a "measure" to verify the management and operation capacity of the government and mass organizations at all levels.
The scene reflection service of the IOC operates on the principle: turning the people's reflections into the orders by the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, then sending those directly to the units responsible for problem – solving, not through intermediaries, not in writing, only by operating on the network environment. The relevant units are responsible for settlement within the time allowed and report the results to the people through the IOC.
This approach not only radically changes the mode of working of all the government levels but also demonstrates the drastic and brave commitment by Thua Thien Hue Province leadership to face the social problems. If the issues reflected are not resolved, the beliefs and expectations of the people will be lost. This is the greatest difficulty in operating smart urban services, which not everyone dares to confront.
Whether it collects garbage or builds a smart city, Thua Thien Hue persists in its efforts to build a strong government. The government is capable of listening to and satisfying the people's aspirations and together with the entire people, joining hands to build a Hue dream with Hue identity for the happiness of every resident, for the sustainability of this sacred land with gifted people.
Story: Thuy Tien
Photo: Hoang Hai