Lao Cai province's land database has been digitized in 151/151 communes, with 3.6 million land plots. (Illustration photo)

Developing a data ecosystem

The implementation results up to the end of May 2025 clearly show a strong shift from awareness to action in the entire political system, creating substantial changes. Immediately after the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 929/QD-TTg dated May 15, 2025, Lao Cai province established a Provincial Steering Committee headed by the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee (PPC), along with three working groups. The weekly meeting mechanism is maintained regularly to promptly direct and remove difficulties, especially in the fields of data, public services, health care and social security.

Lao Cai has digitized all civil status data from 1991–2016, with more than 95% of the data officially integrated. The land database is digitized in 151/151 communes, with 3.6 million land plots. The province is also handling more than 67,000 cases of missing or structurally incorrect data, demonstrating its determination to “clean up data” as a foundation for effective connection and communication.

The province's Intelligent Operations Center (IOC) has been maintained stably, continuing to expand data connections from various sectors. 162/162 information systems have been approved for safety levels, ensuring network security against more than 4,800 illegal attacks in the month. The MOOCs online training platform has attracted nearly 7,700 students, of which 76% completed the course - a mark of digital transformation in education and training.

Digitalization to serve people

By mid-May 2025, Lao Cai had approved 1,796 administrative procedures (AP) eligible for online provision, including 1,280 full-process services. Particularly for 25 essential public services under Project 06, the settlement rate reached over 99% out of a total of more than 36,000 records. Of which: for 11 public services of the Public Security sector, there were a total of 18,088/18,379 records reaching over 98%; for 14 public services of departments, branches and localities, there were a total of 18,194/18,238 records reaching over 99%.

In the healthcare sector, 100% of medical examination and treatment facilities accepted chip-embedded ID cards, with 52,488 visits (reaching a rate of 91%). Lao Cai is currently one of the few localities implementing the self-service kiosk model at 14/14 hospitals, with more than 31,000 visits conducted through this system. Cashless payments are also widely deployed, with more than 50% of medical transactions conducted electronically.

Lao Cai has deployed the self-service kiosk model at 14/14 hospitals.

In the education sector, 100% of facilities apply cashless payments, creating a transparent foundation for school finances. Social insurance (SI), subsidies, unemployment, maternity, etc. are also paid mainly through bank accounts, achieving high rates: One-time SI: 97.9%; unemployment benefits: 100%; social benefits: 85.94%.

Some other highly appreciated initiatives include cashless toll collection at parking lots (4,233 vehicles per month); electronic health records on VNeID have integrated information for over 189,770 people; online issuance of criminal records has achieved a 93.5% processing rate via VneID.

Project 06 not only digitizes procedures, but also helps Lao Cai build a multi-sector data system to serve more flexible and accurate management. Thanks to the connection of labor data with population, the province has updated 432,000 worker records, contributing to accurate analysis of employment, unemployment and socio-economic structure.

The province also actively communicated on multiple platforms, with more than 770 articles posted on the VNeID application, 23 propaganda videos on YouTube and Zalo, creating a positive effect in the community. In particular, the Zalo channel "Lao Cai Police - Crime Prevention" was operated effectively.

According to the public service index ranking (Decision 766/QD-TTg), Lao Cai achieved 79.05 points, ranked 21/63 provinces and cities - up 3 places compared to the previous month, especially outstanding in the indexes "Progress of resolution" (18.8/20 points) and "Satisfaction level" (18/18 points).

Building on these results, Lao Cai aims to continue improving the ranking of public services, expanding the application of electronic identification in all areas of life - from education, health care, social insurance, tax to e-commerce and tourism. The focus in the coming time is to synchronously deploy groups of interconnected administrative procedures, promote electronic payments and complete national data.

From data to service, Lao Cai is making constant efforts in local digital transformation - where people are not only beneficiaries, but also the center of creating a modern, transparent, and effective digital government./.