More government departments in China have opened portal websites, but their efficiency is still relatively low, a report released by the information work office under the State Council said here Thursday.

Altogether 73, or 96.1 percent, of the 76 government departments at the state level have started portal websites, 2.7 percent higher than the figure in 2004, said the report.

According to the report, 81.3 percent of local governments have their own portal websites, 8.4 percentage points higher than in 2004, said the report.

Yet the performance of the websites is not satisfactory. According to the report, the performance of state level websites scored 41.5, provincial websites 44.5 points, county-level websites 15.3.

The performance of government websites was evaluated by the transparency of policies, participation of the public, on-line services and website design.

The government websites are still at the preliminary stage of development and mechanisms are essential to guarantee their progress, said Zhang Xianghong, senior vice president of a consulting company under the China Center for Information Industry Development (CCID).

Transparency of government policies is still the primary function for most Chinese government websites. Though information about leadership, laws and regulations can be put on the website, important information about budgets and personnel changes is still inadequate, said Zhang, who was responsible for the report.

On-line services should be the core content of China's government websites. However, the municipal government websites lag behind and lack a sense of service in integrating resources.

Public participation is vital to government websites. Polls and leaders' mailboxes are all new features for people to participate in e-government.

However, whether it can work effectively is a new problem to be addressed, Zhang said.

Source: Xinhua