“House of the Citizen” to be implemented in various phases

The official launch of the House of the Citizen (“Casa do Cidadão,” in Portuguese) took place on Wednesday, November 7. The much-awaited initiative will make a wide range of services, including one-day business registration and on-line birth certificates, available to citizens. The services, however, will be introduced in phases.

In the first phase, according to Jorge Lopes, director of the Operational Information Society Nucleus (NOSI), which was responsible for the elaboration of the project, the House of the Citizen should be seen as a concept of interaction between citizens and public services. “It’s a point of interaction between the user making his or her way to the House of the Citizen through ATMs, Internet, the telephone or personally, and the House of the Citizen intermediates with various public services such as taxes, registries, municipalities, trade, industry and tourism,” said Lopes.
Those in need of its services may access the House of the Citizen through its Web site, www.portondinosilha.cv, or by phone.
Actual physical installations for the House of the Citizen will only arrive at a later date, but office space has already been set aside in the Finance Ministry building in Praia to begin the project. Cape Verde’s so-called conservatórias, record-keeping centers where individuals go to notarize signatures and renew identity cards, among many other services, will also soon have special House of the Citizen counters.
The initiative’s Data Center (which contains all of the data necessary for the various different services available) and Service Center (a support center accessible via Internet or telephone) will be introduced on November 20. The Internet portal www.portondinosilha.cv will be on-line beginning on December 3.
Electronic payment services, which will begin on December 6, will allow users to pay for state services at ATMs or by Internet. All citizens will also be able to request birth certificates on-line beginning December 15.
The introduction of the “Business in a Day” service will take place next year. The “Business in a Day” will permit the constitution of corporations and businesses from any House of the Citizen counter, with the immediate allocation of a Financial Identification Number and automatic publication in the next issue of Cape Verde’s Official Bulletin following the date of the business’s creation.
Cristina Fontes, Minister of State Reform and National Defense and the spokesperson for the Council of Ministers, who presided over the ceremony yesterday, highlighted the fact that “the average for the creation of a business was 58 days and will now be reduced to just one,” adding that “today is a historic day for Cape Verdean public administration.”