Expected to gradually re-provision the e-government services currently on the ESD portal, the OSP is a unified e-government portal. It aims to consolidate information from the Government Information Center (www.info.gov.hk) with services available on ESDlife into a single portal.

In the first release, a new branding and e-government portal with a look and feel is expected to launch. Building on the existing structure, the site is expected to co-exist with e-services mainly through hyperlinking to the existing websites.

Elevation for e-government

Established in 2001, ESDlife has been providing 200 e-government services online. Despite its achievement in providing e-government services and receiving various awards, there were comments of a low take-up rate for services. Many Hong Kongers were not satisfied with ESDlife's level of service, and some--including the editorial staff of Computerworld Hong Kong--said so publicly.

The executives of ESDlife were also suspected by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) of inflating the number of electronic transactions in 2004, but no charges were pressed.