Chinese netizens unhappy with information on Govt. sites

BEIJING - Nearly 80 percent of Chinese Internet users are not satisfied with the performance of the country’s government websites, according to an online survey.

The survey, which was conducted on 450,000 netizens and released by China Software Testing Center on Thursday, show a grim picture about the quality of e-governance in China, which is considered of having the world’s largest Internet population of over 400 million users.

According to the China Daily, over 78 percent of respondents said they are dissatisfied with government websites that are just image-building projects, which hardly give visitors any useful information or practical solutions to problems.

Besides, most people complained that they have difficulty accessing useful information that ordinary people want to know about, like education, social security, housing, medical care, and employment.

The survey, based on a sample of 885 government websites, including 73 ministerial, 32 provincial, and 780 city, district and county level, also found people complaining about the lack of transparency in the application and allocation of government-subsidized apartments, as far as the government websites are concerned.

The poll also found governments in relatively more prosperous eastern coastal areas outdo their counterparts in less developed regions in the satisfactory level of their websites.

Chen Tianli, from Shanghai, said: “Although many government websites now offer online inquiry services, when we post our questions, it’s very likely we’ll be directed to another government department and end up nowhere.” (ANI)