Yesterday, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) joined the blockchain-based Dubai Unified Business Registry to access data on institutions registered in the region. The company registration and licensing solution was launched last year by Dubai Economy to improve transparency and business regulation.
DEWA is one of the first government organizations to join the blockchain network. It can view commercial licenses of potential partners and real-time information on business registration. Using the solution, DEWA would be able to automate internal operations such as bills and contracts, as well as improving customer satisfaction. In turn, this will reduce the reliance on paper-based transactions and improve efficiency.
Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of DEWA, commented that the initiative is part of the Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021, which aims to enhance government efficiency by transforming 50 percent of federal government transactions using blockchain by 2021. The ultimate aim is to have a paperless government by the end of 2021.
State-owned DEWA is a public service infrastructure company and provides water and electricity to over 700,000 customers.
“We welcome DEWA to the Unified Business Registry, an achievement we are proud of as it is a unique and global storehouse of commercial licenses and is instrumental in retrieving real-time business license registration data to make Dubai the first government fully powered by blockchain in 2020,” said Sami Al Qamzi, Director-General of Dubai Economy.
Dubai has spearheaded several blockchain projects. A few months ago, Dubai Economy launched a blockchain consortium for sharing verified know your customer (KYC) company data. Other projects include a blockchain mortgage platform, a trade finance solution, and a government platform with IBM.
Meanwhile, Argentina also has a company registration platform that was taken offline recently, and China has run pilots in the past.
