startups

Marine Department impresses with tech – Bangkok Post


Marine Department impresses with tech

The trend among state agencies for adopting digital platforms may actually have a model

Fishing vessels docked at a pier in Samut Songkhram. The EU removed Thailand's yellow card as efforts to clean up the fishing industry bore fruit. SOMCHAI POOMLARD
Fishing vessels docked at a pier in Samut Songkhram. The EU removed Thailand’s yellow card as efforts to clean up the fishing industry bore fruit. SOMCHAI POOMLARD

Among the government agencies that use technology to improve their public services and ease of doing business, the Marine Department seems to have won the most accolades, cinching the Public Sector Excellence Award for public services conferred this month by the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission (OPDC).

The department’s “Single Window 4 fishing fleet” initiative played a key role in the EU’s January decision to remove Thailand’s yellow card, recognising the country’s progress in tackling illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Thailand was issued the yellow card on April 29, 2015, with a ban on all Thai seafood exports threatened until the issue was resolved.

The penalty made the government work harder to upgrade the fisheries industry and improve credibility. The public and private sectors rushed to combat human trafficking and avoid the loss of massive profits from the lucrative industry.

As part of the efforts, the Marine Department developed the Single Window 4 fishing fleet, using an electronic system to allow owners of fishing boats or entrepreneurs to submit documents. A facial recognition system and a port-in/port-out control centre were designed to inspect workers on fishing boats.

Work on fishing boats, marine storage of boats and oil shipments for fishing boats must meet the requirements of the Navigation in Thai Waters Act of 1922’s Section 285.

The section stipulates that any employee performing services on a seagoing vessel who is to serve or is employed to serve on a Thai ship or foreign ship that has no consul in Thailand must obtain permission from the harbour master in advance.

The harbour master will collect the evidence of termination of the employee’s last job from the vessel where they served. If the employee cannot submit the evidence, they shall explain the situation and only be allowed to work on the vessel if the harbour master allows.

The Marine Department is also required to work closely with the Department of Fisheries to inspect fishing vessels.

Private companies were hired by the Marine Department to design a “face scan system on mobile” to inspect workers before and after working on fishing boats with a total budget of 8 million baht.

The Single Window 4 fishing fleet can cut costs and save time among entrepreneurs and benefit the country’s overall fishery industry.

Entrepreneurs are allowed to submit documents online, which saves time.

The introduction of the Single Window 4 fishing fleet is estimated to cut the cost of entrepreneurs or owners of fishing boats by 500-600 baht per instance of permission per fishing boat.

Areephan: Urging use of state portals for licensing

Areephan Charoensook, deputy secretary-general of the OPDC, said the Single Window 4 fishing fleet serves as a good example for state agencies to apply online services in the working process.

The OPDC promotes state agencies improving their working process to help the public and lure investment.

The improvement of public services and working processes could also upgrade Thailand’s ranking in ease of doing business.

Ms Areephan also called on the business sector and the public to use the government-initiated “doing business” portal, https://biz.govchannel.go.th.

The portal is a business licensing platform that will deliver a more user-friendly and efficient licensing experience.

The application and payment process is simplified for licence-related fees and lets businesses apply for multiple licences at once. Other features include updating, renewal and termination of licences.

In 2018, the portal’s first phase included 21 types of licences, expanding to cover 70 services in the second phase in 2019 and 300 in 2020.

Ms Areephan said the government is eager to improve Thailand’s ranking in ease of doing business indices and enter the top 20 over the next 2-3 years.

In 2019, Thailand ranked 27th out of 190 countries in the World bank’s global ease of doing business index, putting it third in Asean after Singapore and Malaysia.

Kobsak Pootrakool, deputy secretary-general to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha for political affairs, said the economic cabinet has ordered all related agencies to tackle obstacles to doing business, particularly in the government’s 12 targeted industries.

The Commerce Ministry was told to complete amendments to the Foreign Business Act to facilitate foreign investment within six months, while the Board of Investment (BoI) has been tasked with speeding up proposals to the economic cabinet to reduce obstacles to doing business in targeted industries.

The government also aims to allow foreigners to make up more than 50% of investment in the aviation industry, Mr Kobsak said.

Five state agencies are required to complete their working process linkage within six months. They are the Customs Department, the BoI, the Revenue Department, the Land Department and the Industrial Works Department.

Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana said recently that he hoped for a better ranking in the ease of doing business index from the World Bank in 2020, as Thailand has made great strides in improving many issues in line with the global lender’s suggestions.

The World Bank is due to unveil the report on Oct 30.





READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.