FELICITATION: Pakistan Defence Attache Masud Akram, left, presenting a memento to Captain Ali Ahmed Albinali, Ministry of Interior while Tahir Jamil, PEF President, looks on.

Speakers shed light on smart city initiatives in global and regional perspectives
and how the future integrated cities will look like. By Umer Nangiana
The Ministry of Interior (MoI) encourages both individuals and companies to “rush to register in Metrash2” service of the ministry and save time and effort in getting necessary official work done in Qatar.
Through Metrash2 service, which is available as a phone application, citizens and residents can complete electronically more than 50 services of the Ministry of Interior from anywhere in the world and any time through a smartphone.
“We request you to apply for the service by yourself and in your companies and be a promoter of Metrash2 among your employees as it will save their time and efforts and increase your productivity,” Captain Ali Ahmed Albinali, Head of Eservices and Internet Section, General Directorate of Information Systems, Ministry of Interior, told an audience recently during a seminar on e-governance; smart cities organised by Pakistan Engineers Forum (PEF) Qatar.
Captain Ali was a speaking as one of the four guest speakers at the seminar that the PEF organised in collaboration with Ministry of Interior, Qatar University and DUC International Consulting. Further explaining the services provided by the ministry through Metrash2, Captain Ali said the basic requirements to register in this service are that the telephone number of the applicant should be registered on his name and the applicant should be a citizen or resident of Qatar.
Traffic services currently available through the application are renewal of driving licence, issuance of replacement for lost or damaged driving license, issuance of vehicle permit, transfer of vehicle ownership, transfer of distinguished plate number, issuance of traffic certificates such as vehicle clearance certificate, driving license certificate and distinguished plate number certificate and viewing registered traffic violations and pay the due fines.
Visit visa services for personal and corporate sponsorships include follow up of applications and approvals, visa fee payment, issuing of return visa for visit, payment of delay fines, extending visit visas (from inside the country) and renewing unused visit visas, said the ministry’s representatives.
Other services include the residence permit (RP) services including the renewal of RPs under personal and corporate sponsorships, cancellation of RPs under personal and corporate sponsorships, changing the data in the passports of residents and separation of dependents from residents’ passports.
Exit permit services include issuance of exit permits for the children of citizens, personal sponsorships, residents’ and employees under the sponsorship of companies and issuance of exit permits for those under the sponsorship of persons and companies, Capt Ali told the audience.
The application also offers Electronic Gate (eGate) Services which include activation and renewal of eGate card. And citizens can file their queries through the Query Services about travel movements, companies, visas, sponsored persons and owned vehicles.
The other three speakers also highlighted how governments are using technology to bridge gap with people and improve service delivery and what is the role of universities in it.
In their individual presentations, the speakers talked about smart city initiatives in global and regional perspectives. They tackled questions like who are the stakeholders, what technologies are being applied and how the future integrated cities will look like.
The speakers included Usman Zafar who is an accomplished Business Management and Technology Executive with an extensive experience in both private and public sector with successful track record in building, transforming and leading result oriented professional organisation.
Fatima Hyatt, COO, DUC International Consulting who is an Entrepreneur and Strategic Business Management Consultant shared her extensive 10-plus years of experience in developing effective and profitable partnerships with business stakeholders in risk adverse environments.
Uvais Qidwai, another of the speakers, an associate professor of Computer Science and Engineering Department at Qatar University, talked about the role of universities in the development of smart cities. His research interests included Robotics, Signal and Image Processing, Expert systems for NDT applications and medical informatics systems.
Pakistan Embassy Defence Attache Masud Akram was the chief guest at the seminar. In his speech, he appreciated PEF for organising such an informative event. Akram thanked Capt Ali and other speakers for emphasising the importance of smart villages or cities.
He presented mementos to the speaker and sponsors at the conclusion of the seminar.
The sponsors of the seminar were Gulf GRC, Electrolink and Qatar Arts. At the end, President of PEF Mohammad Tahir Jamil gave a vote of thanks.